Rose Named Finalist for Clair Bee Award

Lubbock, Texas — Five of the nation's premier basketball players and four outstanding coaches — including BYU head coach Dave Rose — have been named finalists for the prestigious Chip Hilton and Clair Bee Awards, to be presented by Chip Hilton Sports and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) at the Final Four in Indianapolis on April 4.

Chip Hilton Sports began presenting the awards in 1997 as a way to honor outstanding excellence and character in college basketball during the season.

The Selection Committee is composed of: Dan Beebe, Jay Bilas, Dave Gavitt, Bob Hammel, Bob Knight, Pat Knight, Billy Packer, Dean Smith, and Dick Vitale.

The Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award honors a senior Division I men's player for demonstrating outstanding character, leadership, and talent similar to the qualities evident in the 24-book Chip Hilton sports fiction series. The books authored by Clair Bee enjoyed their first popularity in the late 1940s through the mid-1960s and were updated and re-released to a new generation of readers in 1999.

The Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award honors a Division I men's basketball coach who through his actions on and off the court makes an outstanding contribution to the sport of college basketball. The criteria for this award include a coach's ability to inspire, motivate, coach, and educate his team to achieve its fullest potential awhile insisting upon and demonstrating outstanding character and academic success.

This season Rose guided BYU to a program record 30 wins and led the Cougars to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He coach the Cougars into the national rankings for a fourth-straight season in 2009-10. BYU's final rankings of No. 17 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll are its best final rankings since 1981.

Rose also stresses service and academic excellence with his team. Rose and the Cougars have been active participants in the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation for more than a decade and BYU has been among the NCAA leaders in Academic Progress Rate the last three seasons.

During the summer of 2009, Rose was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. After an emergency surgery removed the cancer in June 2009, Rose was able to make a full recovery and return to coaching for the 2009-10 season. The United States Basketball Writers Association named Rose its Most Courageous Award winner in 2010.

Coach Clair F. Bee, the late Long Island University coach and Hall of Famer, compiled a .826 lifetime winning percentage, still the best in major-college coaching history. Known as the "Innovator," Clair Bee's influence on the game also extended to strategies (the 1-3-1 zone defense and the 3-second rule) and the development of sports camps (Camp All-America and Kutsher's Sports Academy). Coach Bee authored technical coaching books and conducted coaching clinics around the world.

By the time he left coaching in the 1950s, Clair Bee had already begun writing the Chip Hilton Sports Series, which is considered the top sports fiction series ever written.

The list of coaching finalists for the Clair Bee Award are:

Steve Donahue, Cornell University

Ben Jacobson, University of Northern Iowa

Dave Rose, Brigham Young University

Mark Turgeon, Texas A&M University

The list of player finalists for the Chip Hilton Award are:

Matt Bouldin, Gonzaga University

Lazar Hayward, Marquette University

Roman Martinez, University of New Mexico

Derrick Roland, Texas A&M University

Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State University

Last season’s Chip Hilton Award winner was Jon Brockman of the University of Washington.

Mike Anderson of the University of Missouri was the 2009 Coach Clair Bee Award winner.