BOSTON – UC San Diego head coach Eric Olen has been named a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award. The honor is handed down to the top mid-major head coach in college basketball each year.
 
Last week, Olen was recognized by his peers as The Big West Coach of the Year. The conference's Coach of the Year honor is the third such award for Olen, and his first in Division I. In 11 years as UC San Diego's head man, Olen has also garnered a pair of CCAA Coach of the Year honors and an NABC West Region Coach of the Year accolade from his time in Division II. Under his leadership, the Tritons have won 20 or more games six times. His 210 victories are more than any other coach in program history.
 
Playing in their fourth Division I season, UC San Diego has posted a 21-11 record, finishing second in The Big West with a 15-5 conference mark. The Tritons earned the No. 2 seed in the Ro College Basketball Invitational, which tips Saturday in Daytona Beach. UC San Diego led The Big West in three-pointers per game, fewest turnovers per game, and assist-turnover ratio, among other statistics. The Tritons utilized the same starting lineup in all 32 games – one of just two Division I programs to do so.
 
The Hugh Durham award is named in honor of the former Florida State, Georgia and Jacksonville head coach. In eight seasons, at Jacksonville University, Durham became the Dolphins' all-time winningest Division I coach (106 wins), making him the only coach in NCAA history to be the winningest coach (pct. or wins) at three different Division I schools.

He built national programs at Florida State where he holds the record for best winning percentage with a 230-95 (.708) record in 12 years. And at Georgia where he is also the all-time winningest coach in the 99-year history of the Bulldog program, having won 297 games in 17 seasons.

Durham coached Florida State and Georgia to a combined 8 NCAA Tournament 
appearances, and 2 Final Fours. He is one of 17 coaches to take multiple teams to the Final Four.

Coaches of teams in the following conferences are eligible for the award: America East, ASUN, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Coastal Athletic, CUSA, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, WAC, West Coast.

The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.

The 2024 award will be announced in Phoenix, site of the Division I men's basketball championship.

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.