LMU’s Josh Schertz Named Finalist For Clarence Gaines Division II Coach Of The Year Award

BOSTON, Mass. -- Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball coach Josh Schertz has been named as one of the finalists for the Clarence "Big House" Gaines Division II Coach of the Year award.

The seventeen finalists were announced on Wednesday.

The winner will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet on April 1 in Houston, site of the men's basketball championship.

The Clarence Gaines Award, which is presented annually to the top Division II basketball coach,, is named in honor of the former Winston Salem State head coach. One of the true legends of all-time, Gaines retired from Winston-Salem State University in 1993 with a record of 828-446. At the time he was the winningest active basketball coach in NCAA history. During his 47-year tenure as coach and athletic director at WSSU he coached professional basketball greats Cleo Hill (first African-American from an historically Black college and university to be drafted No. 1 by the National Basketball Association, St. Louis Hawks, 1961) and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Schertz recently completed his third season at LMU where he currently has a 61-26 career record. The 2010-11 team finished 27-3 and had the best record of any LMU basketball team since 1976-77. They won the South Atlantic Conference regular season and tournament championships and made the institution's first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. The 27 wins were the second most in program history.

Other finalists that are note-worthy to followers of LMU athletics are Randall Herbst, who was an assistant at LMU in the late 1990s and currently coaches at the University of Mary; Lennie Acuff, who has coached at the University of Alabama in Huntsville for 14 seasons and competed against LMU when the Railsplitters were members of the Gulf South Conference; and Scott Davenport, who coached Bellarmine University to the Division II national championship this past weekend.

2011 CLARENCE "BIG HOUSE" GAINES AWARD FINALISTS

Lennie Acuff -- University of Alabama-Huntsville
Darrell Brooks -- Bowie State University
Rick Cooper -- West Texas A&M University
Robert Corn -- Missouri Southern State University
Jim Crutchfield -- West Liberty University
Scott Davenport -- Bellarmine University
Terry Evans -- University of Central Oklahoma
Randall Herbst -- University of Mary
Steve Kinder -- Humboldt State University
Jay Lawson -- Bentley University
Matt Margenthaler -- Minnesota State University
Dip Metress -- Augusta State University
Ron Niekamp -- University of Findlay
Pryor Orser -- Colorado School of Mines
Josh Schertz -- Lincoln Memorial University
Greg Sparling -- Central Washington University
Fred Watson -- Benedict College