Banks named a finalist for two prestigious awards

On Monday 15 finalists were announced by Collegeinsider.com for the 2014 Ben Jobe Award and the 2014 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award. 
Of those names Southern University’s very own Head Basketball Coach Roman Banks has been dubbed a finalist for such both esteemed awards.  
The Ben Jobe Award is awarded for the nation’s top minority men’s coach in NCAA Division I basketball. 
The award was founded in 2010 by legendary coach, Ben Jobe. Jobe coached at numerous historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) but his longest tenure was at Southern University and A&M College where he served for 12 years. According to TSPN Sports, Jobe had 524 victories throughout his basketball career and his most prominent victory was while coaching at SU when the team went to the NCAA tournament and won against the fourth seed Georgia State 93-78. His record at SU is 209-141 (675) and included four NCAA tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars into one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles, and two NAIA championships. 
The Ben Jobe award was awarded to Head Coach Ed Cooley when he coached at Fairfield University with the record of 23-11 in the 2009-2010 season. He now coaches at Providence University. 
Now the award is currently held by Head coach Kevin Ollie of Connecticut with his season record of 20-10 and he is once again named a finalist. 
Likewise, the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award is awarded for the nation’s men’s head basketball coach in NCAA Division I that exhibits a strong moral character on and off the court. 
Skip Prosser, former head coach of Xavier University (OH) and Wake Forest. Skip Prosser is the only coach in NCAA history to lead three separate teams to the NCAA Tournament in his first season with the team. Prosser passed in 2007 and the award was first issued in 2008. 
The first recipient of the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award was Mike Brey, head coach of Notre Dame in his 2007-2008 season with the record of 25-8.
The present holder of the award for 2012-2013 season is Joe Milhalich, head coach of Niagara, with a record of 19-14.  
With his third season as a Division I Coach, Banks led SU from the slums of NCAA APR trouble to the summit of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, grasping the title in 2013 and this season holding the regular season title early in the season. 
He has held the Coach of the Year award by the SWAC for two years in a row with guiding SU this season, 19-12 overall and 15-3 in conference play. 
It was never known that Southern the 16th seed would face the insurmountable, the number one seed Gonzaga in the 2013 NCAA tournament. In their toil of war with Gonzaga, Gonzaga did prevail with a score of 58-64 but it was a televised game to remember. 
The finalists for the Ben Jobe Award  include Tommy Amaber (Harvard), Johnny Dawkins (Stanford), Ron Hunter (Georgia State), James Jones (Yale), Joe Jones (Boston University), Mike James (Radford), Danny Manning (Tulsa), Cuonzo Martin (Tennesse), Rob Murphy (Eastern Michigian), Levelle Moton (North Carolina Central), Kevin Ollie (Conneticut), Monte Ross (Delaware), Gary Waters (Cleveland State), and Willis Wilson (Texas A&M Corpus Christi). 
The finalists for the Skip Prosser Awards include; John Becker (Vermont), Glenn Braica (St. Francis Brooklyn), Dick Hunsaker (Utah Valley), Tony Jasick (IPFW), Joe Jones (Boston University), Mike Kryzyzewski (Duke), Paul Lusk (Missouri State), Phil Martelli (Saint Joeseph’s), Randy Rahe (Weber State), Monte Ross (Delaware), Wayne Tinkle (Montana), Brian Wardle (Green Bay), Michael White (Louisiana Tech), and Jay Wright (Vilanova).
Southern University is proud to have Head Coach Roman Banks to be a finalist for two prominent awards that have been created by legends in the NCAA.