Charlotte, NC - After wrapping up his sixth season at the helm of the Kirkwood men's basketball program and winning the program's third national title, Kirkwood's Bryan Petersen is the 2019 Spalding® DII Men's Basketball Coach of the Year.
Guiding the Eagles to a 31-4 overall record this season, the Eagles cut down the nets in Danville for the second time in the Petersen era at Kirkwood. Also winning the national title in 2016, Kirkwood is a perfect 8-0 at the national tournament under Petersen in their two appearances. Petersen led the Eagles through a tough conference slate in a league that boasts three of the last four national champions. Kirkwood punched their ticket to Danville with an 84-72 victory over No. 7 North Iowa Area. The Eagles then cruised through their first three games of the national tournament, winning them by an average of 19.7 points per game. That led to a clash of the top two seeded teams for the national championship, where Kirkwood held off a late Johnson County rally, 64-58.
"I am honored to receive the coach of the year award," said Petersen. "There are many great coaches out there and to receive the award is very humbling."
Petersen also gave credit to those in his program.
"All the credit goes to my staff of excellent assistant coaches and also our great players," added Petersen. "We were lucky as a coaching staff to have such a great group of kids that really cared about each other and bought into improving every day as a team. We challenged our group to compete every day and give their best, and they did. I am very thankful to them for buying into that message."
2018-19 Accomplishments
- NJCAA Region XI Champion
- NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship Coach of the Tournament
- NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Champion
- Coached NJCAA DII First Team All-American and Player of the Year Doug Wilson
- Second-best shooting team in NJCAA, recording a 51.8% field goal percentage