March 30, 2012

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- Notre Dame's Mike Brey is the recipient of the 2012 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award.

Picked to finish ninth in the Big East, Brey guided the Irish to a third straight 20-win campaign and third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance as Notre Dame finished with a 22-12 record and third-place finish in the final Big East regular-season standings with a 13-5 mark, which is the second-most conference wins since joining the league in 1995-96.

"Mike did an unbelievable job this season," said Angela Lento, co-founder of CollegeInsider.com. "Many experts predicted it would be challenging for Notre Dame to reach the NIT and that was before the Irish lost Tim Abromaitis. It's one of the best coaching jobs Mike has ever turned in."

Notre Dame became one of the surprise stories of the 2011-12 campaign considering the youth of this year's team and circumstances of the season. Following the departure of three starters from last year's record-setting 27-7 year, the Irish's chances of an NCAA tournament return were dealt a severe blow when preseason First-Team All-Big East pick Tim Abromaitis tore his ACL in late November and was sidelined for the remainder of the season.

The award is named after Jim Phelan who coached his entire career at Mount Saint Mary's University. He led the Mountaineers to the 1962 NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship. When he retired in 2003, after coaching for 49 years, he amassed 830 wins (overall record of 830-524) in over 1,300 games in all divisions. In those 49 years, 19 of his teams amassed 20 or more wins in a season.

The award was presented at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in New Orleans, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.

2012 JIM PHELAN AWARD FINALISTS

Tony Bennett	Virginia
Mike Brey	Notre Dame
Horace Broadnax	Savannah State
John Calipari	Kentucky
John Cooper	Tennessee State
Tom Crean	Indiana
Steve Fisher	San Diego State
Frank Haith	Missouri
Leonard Hamilton	Florida State
Stan Heath	South Florida
Fred Hoiberg	Iowa State
Tom Izzo	Michigan State
Eddie Payne	USC Upstate
Steve Prohm	Murray State
Bill Self	Kansas
John Thompson III	Georgetown