HUSKER MEN’S BASKETBALL: Hoiberg Earns National Coach-of-the-Year Honor

Fred Hoiberg (Courtesy of NU Athletics)

LINCOLN—(NU Athletics Apr. 4)—Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg was chosen as the recipient of the 2024 Jim Phelan National Coach-of-the-Year award Thursday afternoon.

The Jim Phelan Award is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I coach. The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.

Hoiberg guided the Huskers to one of the most successful seasons in program history in 2023-24, as Nebraska went 23-11 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. The 23 wins were the most since Nebraska won a school-record 26 games in 1990-91, while going 12-8 in the Big Ten. The Huskers’ third-place finish in the Big Ten Conference was the best since joining the conference in 2011-12 and the program’s best conference finish since the 1992-93 season.

Nebraska posted two wins over top-10 teams in 2023-24, including the program’s first win over a No. 1 team since 1982, and reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals for the first time in program history. For his efforts, he shared Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year accolades from both the Big Ten Coaches and media voters.

Hoiberg is the second Husker men’s basketball coach to earn the honor, as Tim Miles was the 2014 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year. Hoiberg was chosen from a group of 20 finalists from across the country. It marks the second straight season that a Big Ten coach has won the award, joining 2023 recipient Chris Collins of Northwestern.

The Jim Phelan Award is named in honor of a legendary bow-tied coach who spent his entire head coaching career at Mount Saint Mary’s University.

Phelan graduated from La Salle University in 1951 and played one season in the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors. After a brief professional career, Phelan went to Mount St. Mary’s as an assistant in 1953. One year later he began his historical career as a head coach.

He led the Mountaineers to 16 Division II NCAA tournaments. Five times they advanced to the Final Four and he led them to the DII National Championship in 1962. When he retired in 2003, after coaching for 49 years, he had amassed 830 wins (overall record of 830-524) in all divisions. In those 49 years, 19 of his teams amassed 20 or more wins in a season.

In 2008 he was inducted into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Phelan passed away on June 15, 2021, at the age of 92 at his home in Emmitsburg, Md.