Graham Voted South Central Region Coach of the Year
7/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 14, 2006
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Rice head coach Wayne Graham, who led the Owls to a 57-13 mark and a third-place finish in the 2006 College World Series, has been voted the South Central Region Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) the organization announced Friday from its headquarters in Tennessee.
Graham received 23 of the 33 first place votes from coaches in the South Central Region. Under Graham's direction Rice won its 11th consecutive conference championship, claiming the Conference USA crown in its first year in the league with a 22-2 C-USA mark. The Owls made their 12th NCAA Tournament appearance in Graham's 15 seasons at the helm of the program, advancing to the final four teams of the College World Series.
The Owls were seeded second in the NCAA Tournament and the highest-seeded team at the College World Series. The Owls defeated Georgia and Miami (Fla.) before running into eventual national champion Oregon State.
The honor is the third for Graham from the ABCA. He was the Western Region Coach of the Year in 1997 and 2002. Graham was the national coach of the year in 2003, the year Rice won the NCAA national championship.
In 2006 Graham earned the Keith LeClair Conference USA coach of the year award and he was one of the national coaches of the year according to the College Baseball Foundation. He coached four Rice players to all-America status and seven of his Owls were selected in the recent Major League Baseball amateur draft.
The ABCA is a non-profit organization represented by more than 5,000 members from all 50 states. Prairie View head coach Michael Robertson garnered seven first place votes from the South Central region and McNeese State's Chad Clement the other three votes for outstanding seasons at their respective institutions.