The John R. Wooden Coach of the Year, commonly known as the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, is an annual college basketball award presented to the top men's basketball coach in the Pac-12 Conference. The winner was selected by conference coaches, who were not allowed to vote for themselves. Former Arizona coach Lute Olson won the award a record seven times. It was first awarded in 1976, when the conference consisted of eight teams and was known as the Pacific-8, before becoming the Pacific-10 after expanding in 1978. Two more teams were added in 2011, when the conference became the Pac-12. The award was known as the Pac-10 Coach of the Year Award when it was renamed in John Wooden's honor following his death in June 2010. Wooden coached the UCLA Bruins for 27 years while winning a record 10 national championships, including seven straight. He retired in 1975, the year before the award began.
Dick DiBiaso of Stanford and George Raveling of Washington State were co-winners in the award's inaugural year. Both schools finished in the lower half of the conference that year. DiBiaso is the only coach to have received the award with a losing record. He was a first-year coach for the Cardinal (then nicknamed Cardinals) with only one returning starter, and the team lost a number of significant players to injury. Stanford's record was 9–18 with 11 losses by six points or less. Since the conference expanded to 10 teams in 1978, the winner of the award has typically qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Marv Harshman was 19–10 with Washington in 1981–82 and fellow Huskies coach Bob Bender finished 16–12 in 1995–96 when the schools landed in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). In 1990–91, Kelvin Sampson guided Washington State to a 16–12 record and did not compete in a postseason tournament.
Key † Co-Coaches of the Year Coach (X) Denotes the number of times the coach has been awarded the Pac-12 Coach of the Year award at that point
Winners
Season Coach SchoolRef 1975–76† Stanford Washington State1976–77 Oregon1977–78 UCLA1978–79 USC1979–80 Arizona State1980–81 Oregon State1981–82 Washington1982–83 (2) Washington State1983–84 (2) Washington1984–85 USC 1985–86 Arizona1986–87 UCLA1987–88 (2) Arizona1988–89† (3) Arizona (2) Oregon State1989–90 Oregon State1990–91 Washington State1991–92 (3) USC1992–93 (4) Arizona1993–94 (5) Arizona1994–95 UCLA1995–96 Washington1996–97 California1997–98 (6) Arizona1998–99 Stanford1999–2000 (2) Stanford2000–01 UCLA2001–02 Oregon2002–03† (3) Stanford (7) Arizona 2003–04 (4) Stanford2004–05 Washington2005–06 UCLA2006–07 Washington State2007–08 Stanford2008–09 (2) Washington 2009–10 Arizona State2010–11 Arizona2011–12 (3) Washington 2012–13 Oregon2013–14 (2) Arizona2014–15 (2) Oregon2015–16 (3) Oregon 2016–17 (3) Arizona 2017–18 Washington 2018–19 (2) Washington 2019–20 UCLA 2020–21 USC 2021–22 Arizona 2022–23 (2) UCLA 2023–24 Washington State 2024–25Pac-12 basketball anticipated to resume in 2026–27 2025–26
Winners by school
School (year joined) Winners Years Arizona (1978) 11 1986, 1988, 1989†, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2003†, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2022 Washington (1959) 8 1982, 1984, 1996, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2018, 2019 UCLA (1959)7 1978, 1987, 1995, 2001, 2006, 2020, 2023 Stanford (1959)61976†, 1999, 2000, 2003†, 2004, 2008 Oregon (1964)5 1977, 2002, 2013, 2015, 2016 Washington State (1962)51976†, 1983, 1991, 2007, 2024 USC (1959)4 1979, 1985, 1992, 2021 Oregon State (1964)3 1981, 1989†, 1990 Arizona State (1978)2 1980, 2010 California (1959)1 1997 Colorado (2011) 0 — Utah (2011) 0—
See also Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Coach of the Year
References