RUSTON – Louisiana Tech’s Eric Konkol earned another postseason honor on Tuesday as the Bulldog Basketball head coach was named as the National Associate of Basketball Coaches (NABC) 2020-21 District 11 Coach of the Year.
Konkol, who was also named the Conference USA Coach of the Year, has guided LA Tech to a 21-7 overall record, a C-USA West Division title and a berth in the National Invitation Tournament.
The Bulldogs won 12 of their final 14 regular season games and advanced to the C-USA Tournament semifinals.
Per KenPom, LA Tech played the second hardest league schedule. Despite that, the Bulldogs picked up several marquee wins including a 63-58 win at WKU, a 68-63 victory at North Texas and a two-game sweep at home over UAB.
Konkol and his staff produced the highest-rated defense in C-USA, ranking 34th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. The team also ranks No. 1 in the league and top 25 in the nation in field goal percentage defense (39.9) and three-point field goal percentage defense (29.3).
Among the players Konkol helped develop were All-Conference USA selections Isaiah Crawford and Kenneth Lofton, Jr. Both underclassmen were named Third Team while Lofton, Jr. was voted as the C-USA Freshman of the Year. Another underclassmen, Cobe Williams, was selected to the C-USA All-Defensive Team.
LA Tech was once again dominant at home, going 15-1 for a third straight season.
Konkol, who is wrapping up his sixth season at the helm, now owns the most 20-win seasons of any head coach in Bulldog Basketball history with five. Recently, he passed Andy Russo for the fourth most victories by a head coach (currently 126-64).
Everyone honored was selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, an organization that honors the nation’s best men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes and coaches from 24 districts.
The NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. It currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men’s basketball coaches.
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