April 8, 2019
THE 2019 AWARD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Andre Cook of St. Edward’s is the 2018-19 recipient of the Clarence Gaines Award, presented annually to the top Division II college basketball coach and named in honor of the legendary former Winston Salem State head coach.
Cook led St. Edward’s to a school-record 30 victories this season and the program’s first appearance in a Division II regional final. The Hilltoppers won the Heartland Conference with a 14-2 record.
Cook has won 165 games in nine seasons at St. Edward’s, leading the program to five consecutive winning campaigns.
One of the true legends of all-time, 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 (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.
CLARENCE GAINES AWARD FINALISTS
2023: Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern
2022: Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State
2021: Todd Duncan, Lubbock Christian
2020: Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State
2019: Andre Cook, St. Edward's
2018: Grady Brewer, Morehouse College
2017: Darren Vorderbruegge, Hawai'i Pacific
2016: Josh Schertz, Lincoln Memorial
2015: Chad Walthall, Minnesota State-Moorhead
2014: Jeff Wilson, East Stroudsburg
2013: Tom Billeter, Augustana College
2012: Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State
2011: Steve Kinder, Humboldt State
