University of Washington Athletics

SEATTLE – University of Washington head coach Mike Hopkins has been selected as the NABC District 20 Coach of the Year, the organization announced on Friday.
 
Hopkins' earned back-to-back Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors make him the first coach in league history to earn the Coach of the Year award in each of his first two seasons with a program. He's also just the fourth coach to repeat joining Mike Montgomery (1999, 2000; 2003, 2004) and Lute Olson (1988-1989; 1993, 1994) who both accomplished the repeat twice, as well as Dana Altman (2015, 2016).
 
He has led the Huskies to their first regular season conference title since the 2011-12 season and the Dawgs' 15 wins in conference play this season tied the most in program history. Washington has recorded back-to-back 20 win seasons in Hop's two years, making him just the second UW coach in program history to reach 20 wins in his first two years, joining Tippy Dye (1951-52, 52-53).
 
Washington saw two players get selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team for the first time since 2011-12 and it was just the fifth time in Pac-12 history that UW has had three on the All-Conference Teams. The mentor helped oversee Nowell who earned UW's first Player of the Year honor since 2005-06 (Brandon Roy) and just the third in program history joining Christian Welp (1985-86). Additionally, Thybulle became just the second player in Pac-12 history to repeat as Defensive Player of the Year. Every player returning under Hopkins saw improvements in at least two stat categories from last year and Washington had a different leading scorer in each of the final nine games of the season. The Huskies held teams to just 62.3 points per game in league action, to lead the conference.