THE BEN JOBE AWARD

Evansville's David Ragland is the recipient of the Ben Jobe award mid-season coaching honors

Jan. 3, 2024

BOSTON, MA -- University of Evansville head coach David Ragland is the recipient of the Ben Jobe award ‘Mid-Season’ honors.

The second-year head coach led Evansville to its best start in nearly 60 years.  With a win over Southeast Missouri State on Nov. 25, the Purple Aces improved to 6-0. It was the first time UE had won its first six games since the 1964-65 undefeated national championship team.

With 10 wins, the Aces are already just one win shy of their best season-win total in five years (finished 11-21 in 2018-19). UE enters 2024 with a 10-3 overall record.

“Evansville basketball needed a culture change and David Ragland is delivering,” said Angela Lento, Vice President of College Insider.” Coach Ragland laid the foundation during a tough 2022-23 season and now it’s producing results. Picked to finish near the bottom of the Missouri Valley Conference, Ragland has Evansville positioned to contend in one of the toughest mid-major leagues in college basketball.”

Evansville was picked to finish 11th in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Ben Jobe Award is named in honor of one the most iconic coaches in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee, and South Carolina State.

His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.

Coach Jobe passed away on March 10, 2017.

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.

The 2024 award will be announced in Phoenix, AZ, site of the men’s Division I Basketball Championship.

 

The Ben Jobe Award, which is presented annually to the top Division I minority coach, is named in honor of one of the finest men to ever college basketball.
 
Coach Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee and South Carolina State.
 
His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships.

Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.
 
The recipient of the 2023-24 award will be announced in April, in Phoenix, AZ site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.
 

The Ben Jobe award is presented annually to top minority coach in division I college basketball, as voted on by the award committee.
 
The 10-member voting committee consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.
 
The award is presented annually at the site of the men's Division I NCAA basketball championship. 

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