Tribune-Star staff report
TERRE HAUTE — Third-year Indiana State head basketball coach Kevin McKenna has been tabbed the Missouri Valley Conference Coach Of The Year by CollegeInsider.com.
McKenna led Indiana State to a 17-13 record during the regular season and through play at last week’s State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Sycamores were 9-9 this season in league play. It marked the first time since the 2000-01 season that ISU finished the regular season with a record over the .500 mark and the first time since that same campaign that the Sycamores finished league play with at least a .500 ledger.
The Sycamores achieved their winning season despite losing junior Jake Kelly (the team's third leading scorer) during the conference opener against Southern Illlinois as well as sophomore Dwayne Lathan (the team's second leading scorer) in the conference’s fourth contest at Bradley. Lathan went on to miss a total of eight (out of 18) league contests over the course of the season.
McKenna is the first Sycamore coach to earn a Coach of the Year honor since 2000 when Royce Waltman was named the MVC Coach of the Year by the league’s annual vote of head coaches, sports information directors and media panel.
