IBCA Website
NORMAL, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's basketball head coach Brady Sallee has been named a co-winner of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's NCAA Division I Coach of the Year award.
Sallee received the award at the at the IBCA's 38th annual Hall of Fame induction dinner, held April 24 at Illinois State University. He was recognized along with DePaul's Doug Bruno, Northwestern's Joe McKeown and former Illinois State head coach Robin Pingeton.
Sallee led EIU women's basketball to its first regular-season Ohio Valley Conference title this season, which was his sixth as the leader of the program. The Panthers reached the OVC Tournament title game for the third consecutive year and represented the conference in the Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament. Eastern finished the season 23-11, winning 20 games for the second year in a row.
Sallee has spearheaded EIU's program renaissance the last three seasons, leading the program to a conference-best 66-33 overall record and 46-10 OVC mark. In their first eight seasons as a member of the OVC before Sallee took over the program in time for the 2004-05 campaign, the Panthers only won 65 overall games and 46 conference contests.
However, the 2009-10 season may very well have been Sallee's finest coaching job. He and his program persevered through the unexpected death of assistant coach Jackie Moore only nine days before the 2009-10 campaign tipped off. Eastern went on to win the OVC title despite losing five seniors (including four starters) from 2009's 24-win team and having only three coaches on staff.
Sallee has recruited and coached three OVC Freshman of the Year award winners since taking over the EIU program. He has seen seven of his Panthers earn All-OVC honors, including a program-high three in 2009-10.
Sallee has also helped turn Lantz Arena into a tough environment on visiting teams. Highlighted by a 20-game home court win streak from January 2008 to February 2009, EIU has compiled a 37-8 record at Lantz Arena the last three seasons. Eastern went a perfect 10-0 at home against OVC teams en route to winning the 2010 conference title.
