New York – Geno Auriemma and Phil Martelli head the recipients of this year of the prize to the character Joe Lepchick.
The two coaches will be joined for a long time the Male Basketball Officer Gene Steratore and former Atlético Director of Fordham, Frank McLaughlin.
Auriemma is the most winning coach in the history of female basketball, taking UConn to 11 national championships, and has won a record of the NCAA 1,239 games in its 40 years at school. Outside the court, the Huskies have a perfect graduation rate of 100% among their four -year -old players.
The coach of the Hall of Fame has a long -standing link with Martelli when Auriemma was an assistant coach for him in Bishop Kenrick High School. Martelli recommended Auriemma for an assistant post in Virginia with Debbie Ryan, a job he occupied before obtaining the Uconn post in 1986.
Martelli led Saint Joseph's for 24 seasons as a chief coach, guiding the Hawks seven appearances in the NCAA tournament. His 2004 team made the Eight elite after being undefeated in the regular season. Martelli's team lost in the conference tournament against Xavier and was then beaten by the state of Oklahoma in the east regional final. He was the AP coach of the year that season and won 444 games in his career.
Steradore was a male basketball officer of Division I of 1997-2018, working at the Big East, Big Ten and Atlantic 10 conferences. He also worked two Sweet 16 games in the NCAA tournament. Sterore has been in CBS broadcasts during the madness of March, providing rules explanations. It is a role that has also played in the NFL. Steratore was an NFL official for 15 seasons.
McLaughlin served as Atlético de Fordham from 1985 to 2012 before being promoted to the role of associate vice president of student affairs for athletic relations of students and external affairs/Atlético Emeritus director. He retired in 2023.
Before becoming an ad, McLaughlin was a university coach, leading Harvard's male basketball team of 1977-85. The team had 15-9 in its last year there.
This is the year 17 that the award will be delivered to those who have shown the character features of Lapchick, who trained in St. John's and with the New York Knicks. The quartet will be honored at a lunch on September 19 in New York.
