Courtesy: Princeton Athletic CommunicationsPRINCETON -- Sydney Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball at Princeton, has been named the Ivy League Coach of the Year for the second year in a row by CollegeInsider.com.
Johnson has also been named by the Web site as one of 15 finalists for the Ben Jobe Award, given to the top minority coach in college basketball. The winner will be announced at the Final Four next month. Princeton also has another alumnus among the finalists with John Thompson III '88 at Georgetown.
The other finalists are: Tommy Amaker (Harvard), Mike Anderson (Missouri), Tevester Anderson (Jackson State), Tony Barbee (UTEP), Todd Bozeman (Morgan State), Ed Cooley (Fairfield), Mike Davis (UAB), Stan Heath (South Florida), Ron Hunter (IUPUI), Johnny Jones (North Texas), Marvin Menzies (New Mexico State), Shaka Smart (VCU) and Cliff Warren (Jacksonville).
Johnson has helped guide the Tigers to the biggest improvement in wins in two or fewer seasons in the entire 110-year history of the program. In Johnson's first season of 2007-08, Princeton was 6-23 overall and 3-11 in the Ivy. Two years later, the Tigers are 20-8 overall and 11-3 in league with back-to-back second-place Ivy finishes. in 2008-09, Princeton began its turnaround with a 13-14 overall season and an 8-6 league record. A year later, the Tigers have their first winning season overall since 2005.
