INDIANA, Pa. – IUP head men's basketball coach Joe Lombardi was named the 2018-19 IUP Men's Coach of the Year, announced Tuesday, June 18 by the IUP Athletic Department.
 
The award is part of the Crimson & Gray Awards, which recognize the top athletes, coaches, teams and performances of the IUP Athletics season. The Awards are in their third year of existence.
 
Lombardi earns his first ever IUP Coach of the Year honor after guiding the men's basketball program to a 30-3 overall record, a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division regular season title, and the PSAC tournament championship.
 
The regular season division title was the seventh straight for Lombardi and his ninth in the last 10 seasons. The PSAC tournament championship was Lombardi's fourth and the 10th in program history.
 
The Crimson Hawks finished the regular season as the No. 2 ranked team in the NABC Division II Coaches' Poll, the highest end-of-year ranking for the program since it's 2009-10 national finalist season.
 
Lombardi was named NABC Atlantic Region co-Coach of the Year.
 
With the PSAC title in-hand, Lombardi and the Crimson Hawks earned the No. 1 seed and hosting responsibilities for the 2019 NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championships. It marked just the second time ever – and first since the 2009-10 season – that IUP hosted the regional tournament.
 
With IUP's divisional-title clinching win at Edinboro February 27, Lombardi secured his 300th career victory, becoming the fastest coach in conference history to reach that milestone. Lombardi is 305-100 (.753) in 13 seasons on the IUP bench.
 
About the Coach of the Year Award
The IUP Coach of the Year is given each year to the men's and women's coaches who did the most outstanding job leading his or her team. Awards are given to the top men's team coach and women's team coach. The Coach of the Year Award began in 2017 with the creation of the Crimson & Gray Awards.  
 
About the Crimson & Gray Awards
The Crimson & Gray Awards are in their third year of existence and consist of 18 total categories - nine women, nine men - with top performers and performances from the 2018-19 year eligible.
 
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, with those nominees voted on by a select panel to narrow each category down to finalists. That panel votes again to determine the winners.
 
Up next
The 2018-19 IUP Men's and Women's Performance of the Year awards will be announced Wednesday.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Athletics on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk.