Crimson & Gray Awards | CGA Finalists List

INDIANA, Pa. – IUP head baseball coach Anthony Rebyanski has been named the 2016-17 IUP Men's Coach of the Year. The honor was announced Monday, June 5 by the IUP Athletic Department.
 
The award is part of the newly established Crimson & Gray Awards, which recognize the top athletes, coaches, teams and performances of the IUP Athletics season.
 
The Coach of the Year Award is in its first year of existence.
 
Rebyanski led the Crimson Hawks to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament in his first year as the team's head coach. It was the first postseason berth since 2011 for the club, as IUP finished second in the PSAC West standings with an 18-10 divisional record. Those 18 PSAC wins were the most for an IUP team since the Crimson Hawks finished 18-6 back in 2010.
 
The Crimson Hawks did not come into the year with high expectations, as they were picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in the PSAC West preseason coaches' poll.
 
IUP finished the year with a 22-25 overall record, as the 22 victories for Rebyanski are the most for a first year head coach in program history.
 
After a 3-13 start to the season, Rebyanski led a complete turnaround as the calendar turned to April. The Crimson Hawks took three-of-four from Gannon and then swept their four-game set with Clarion, improving to 7-5 in divisional play.
 
Important four-game series splits with Slippery Rock and Seton Hill – both playoff teams – preceded series wins over California and Pitt-Johnstown (sweep).
 
The four-game sweeps of Clarion and Pitt-Johnstown were the first for IUP since the 2014 season. It's also the first time since 1990 that IUP tallied at least two four-game series sweeps.
 
A former IUP pitcher, Rebyanski also helped the Crimson Hawks' improve their team earned run average by more than two runs from last year, bringing it down to a 6.11 (8.26 in 2016).

About the Crimson & Gray Awards
The Crimson & Gray Awards consist of 18 total categories - nine women, nine men - with top performers and performances from the 2016-17 year eligible. The inaugural year of awards include: Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Coach of the Year, Performance of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Breakthrough Athlete of the Year, Postseason Performer of the Year, Senior of the Year, Team of the Year and Athlete of the Year.

The IUP Sports Information Office collected award nominations from its coaches and others within the athletic department. Those nominations were then voted on within the office to choose 3-to-5 finalists for each award, which were announced on May 24. Members of the IUP Sports Information Office and Athletic Department took part in the voting process for the nominees and finalists, with the winners announced over a two-week period starting June 5 on IUPAthletics.com.
 
Up next
The 2016-17 IUP Women's team Coach of the Year will be announced at 2:30 p.m. today. The men's and women's Performance of the Year winners will be announced on Tuesday.
 
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For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Athletics on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk.