The Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year is a basketball award given to head coaches in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The award is presented to the head coach voted to be the most successful that season by the league's coaches. The award was first given following the 1982–83 season, the second year of the conference's existence, to Matt Furjanic of Robert Morris.[1]
Howie Dickenman of Central Connecticut has won the most awards with four. Bashir Mason of Wagner has won three, and seven other coaches have won the award twice. One former NEC Coach of the Year has been inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach: Jim Phelan (inducted 2001). Due to Phelan's success, in 2003 the NEC men's basketball coach of the year award was named in his honor.[2] Also of note, the only year when the award was shared was in 1993 with Jim Phelan and Kevin Bannon as winners. The program with the most winners, both by total awards and distinct recipients, is former member Robert Morris, with six awards won by four coaches. Among current members, Wagner has the most by both criteria, with three coaches combining to win five awards. The only current NEC members without a winner are Sacred Heart, members since 1999, and Le Moyne, which plays its first NEC season in 2023–24.
Years in this table reflect calendar years in which basketball seasons end. Since the basketball season spans two calendar years, each school's first year of membership in this table is the calendar year after its actual arrival in the conference.
^Because Merrimack was in the first season of its four-year transition from NCAA Division II to Division I, it was not eligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play (either the NCAA Tournament or NIT), and under NEC rules was also ineligible for the conference tournament. The Warriors were eligible to compete in non-NCAA postseason events, but all postseason play was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
^Because Stonehill was in the first season of its four-year transition from NCAA Division II to Division I, it was not eligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play (either the NCAA Tournament or NIT), and under NEC rules was also ineligible for the conference tournament.
^From 1981 to 2019, Long Island University was represented in the Northeast Conference by its Brooklyn campus, known for athletic purposes as "Long Island" through the 2012–13 season and "LIU Brooklyn" from 2013–14 forward. After the 2018–19 season, LIU merged the athletic programs of its Brooklyn and Post campuses into a single program, now competing as the LIU Sharks, that inherited the NCAA Division I and Northeast Conference memberships of the Brooklyn campus.
