April 1, 2026

CAL STATE EAST BAY’S BRYAN ROONEY RECIPIENT OF 2026 CLARANCE GAINES AWARD 
Presented annually to the top head coach in division II college basketball.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Cal State East Bay’s Bryan Rooney is the recipient of the 2026 Clarence “Big House” Gaines National Coach of the Year award, which is presented annually to the top head coach in division II college basketball.

After finishing 11-17 a season ago, Rooney led Cal State East Bay to a 33-1 record and a berth in the Elite 8 of the division II NCAA Tournament.

“What a remarkable turnaround in Hayward, California,” said Joe Dwyer, President of College Insider, Inc. and member of the Clarence Gaines award voting panel. “Coach Rooney and the Pioneers re-wrote the record books this season, after being an afterthought heading into the season. He did one of the best coaching jobs in all levels of college basketball this season.”

Picked to finish 6th in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the Pioneers completed the first ever 22-0 run through the CCAA and the 31 overall wins are a school record.

In addition to the single-season school record for victories, Rooney's team had the longest winning streak, best winning percentage and the highest ranking in program history. The Pioneers finished the regular season, ranked No. 2 in the division II Top 25.

The 22-win improvement is among the best marks of all-time at any level of NCAA basketball (+29 wins is the record).

The Pioneers entered postseason as the only undefeated team remaining at any level of NCAA men's basketball. East Bay's appearance in the Elite 8 is also the deepest postseason run the Pioneers have ever made, falling in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Now in his ninth season, Coach Rooney was also named the CCAA Coach of the Year and NABC District Coach of the Year.

The Clarence Gaines Award is named in honor of the legendary Winston Salem State head coach.

One of the true legends of all-time, Clarence “Big House” Gaines retired from Winston-Salem State University in 1993 with a record of 828-446. At the time he was the winningest active basketball coach in NCAA history. Gaines was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982.

During his 47-year tenure as coach and athletic director at WSSU he coached professional basketball greats Cleo Hill, the first African-American from an historically Black college and university to be drafted No. 1 by the National Basketball Association, St. Louis Hawks, 1961, and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.

Coach Gaines passed away on April 18, 2005.


PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS
Mike MacDonald, Daemen (2025); Jordan Fee, Gannon (2024); Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern (2023); Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State (2022); Todd Duncan, Lubbock Christian (2021); Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State (2020); Andre Cook, St. Edward's (2019); Grady Brewer, Morehouse College (2018); Darren Vorderbruegge, Hawai'i Pacific (2017); Josh Schertz, Lincoln Memorial (2016); Chad Walthall, Minnesota State-Moorhead (2015); Jeff Wilson, East Stroudsburg (2014); Tom Billeter, Augustana College (2103); Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State (2012); Steve Kinder, Humboldt State (2011).

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