A good year for BYU sports just got better.
Both BYU basketball head coaches were honored as Mountain West Conference coaches of the year Monday, as selected by the league?s media and coaches,
In addition, Keena Young of the men?s team and Dani Wright of the women?s team were named players of the year.
According to BYU?s sports information office, this is the first time the Cougars have made a clean sweep of the conference?s top awards.
It also marks the first time since 1978 that the football team and both basketball teams won regular-season conference titles outright.
?It?s a great honor,? Judkins said of his first coach-of-the-year award. ?I?m very flattered because there are so many good coaches in our league and this award probably could have gone to anybody.?
Judkins? team finished the regular season with a 21-8 record. They?ll open play in the conference tournament Wednesday as the No. 1 seed.
?He?s an amazing coach,? Wright said of Judkins. ?He really knows the game. He knows the X?s and O?s, but not only that, he?s a great person in general. Everyone respects him and we all think of him as our dad.?
Judkins offered similar praise for Wright, who shares player of the year honors with TCU guard Adrianne Ross. A 6-foot-3 senior center, Wright was second in the league in field-goal percentage (.585), fourth in scoring (15.1 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (7.4 rpg).
?When I recruited her [Wright] five years ago, I told her she could be an all-conference player and have a chance to be the best player of the league,? he said. ?She has really worked hard. I think she earned it and I think she deserved it.?
This was the second straight coach of the year award for Rose. He earned the honor last season as a rookie coach, taking a team that had won just nine games the previous season to a 20-9 record and NIT berth.
Rose?s team finished this regular season 23-7, earning its first outright conference title since 1988. The Cougars set league records for most points scored (1,263), most field goals made (459) and three-point percentage (.457) against conference foes.
BYU will be the No. 1 seed as men?s play in the conference tourney opens Thursday.
Young, a 6-6 senior forward and third-team honoree last season, scored in double figures in 26 of 30 games this season. He ranked fourth in the league in scoring at 17.1 points per game and was seventh in rebounding at 6.2 per game.
BYU forward Jonathan Tavernari was selected the MWC?s Freshman of the Year, marking the second straight season a Cougar has earned that accolade. Last year, Trent Plaisted was the conference?s top freshman. Tavernari led all freshmen in scoring (7.2 ppg) and rebounding (2.8 rpg) and set an MWC freshman record for three-point percentage with a 6-for-7 effort against TCU on Jan. 10.
Other men?s honorees from BYU were sophomore Trent Plaisted, who earned second-team honors for the second season in a row; sophomore Lee Cummard, a third-team selection; and senior Austin Ainge, an honorable mention.
Junior Mallary Gillespie from the women?s squad earned second-team honors, while senior Melinda Johnsen and junior Lauren Riley received honorable mentions
