Jim Larranaga - Coach of the Year

[Bravesguy]

No coach of an 11 seed has done this, least of all with players
that all the BCS guys passed on. And he's gotten there knocking off top seeds and #1 ranked programs.
How this can NOT be the COY is beyond me!
If he had a team of McDonalds AA's then I'd maybe expect it, but this guy can coach!

[Evolvehawk]

LSU was an 11 seed in 1986

[collegehoopjunkie]

LSU was an 11 seed in 1986

The coach of that 1986 LSU team did get some talk of Coach of the Year, but his regular season record of 26-12, 9-9 in the SEC pales in comparison to Larranaga's record of 29-8, 15-3 in the CAA. They did advance to the Final Four, but they were still not as improbable as this present GMU team. LSU had won the 1986 SEC title over powerhouse teams such as Alabama, Auburn and Kentucky (AL & KY were also Sweet Sixteen teams that year) and gained the automatic bid by winning the conference tourney.
People were quite amazed that LSU got only an 11 seed, and likely deserved way higher.
And had already won one National Coach of the Year award in 1981.

I also think Larranaga's coaching this season deserves a bit more note than he's gotten so far.