MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State head men's basketball coach Preston Spradlin has been named a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award by CollegeInsider.com. The award is bestowed upon the nation's top Mid-Major head coach.

The Hugh Durham Award is named after a coach who built winning programs at three different universities. In eight seasons as the head coach at Jacksonville University, Durham became the Dolphins' all-time winningest Division I coach (106 wins), making him the only coach in NCAA history to be the winningest coach (pct. or wins) at three different Division I schools. He built national programs at Florida State where he holds the record for best winning percentage with a 230- 95 (.708) record in 12 years and at Georgia where he is also the all-time winningest coach in the 99-year history of the Bulldog program, having won 297 games in 17 seasons.

Spradlin, who along with his staff, led the Eagles to the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference championship, guided a title squad that had been picked to finish eighth in the preseason league poll. He was named OVC Coach of the Year.

The Eagles have 19 of their last 20 games heading into their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010-11. Morehead State made the biggest turnaround in the nation according to KenPom rankings at +181 and made the largest improvement so far in the NET rankings since last spring.

The Eagles led the OVC in nearly every defensive stat category and ranked in the top three in the nation in blocked shots.MSU players also garnered the most OVC weekly awards in program history (12), including nine Freshman of the Week honors by Johni Broome, who was named league Freshman of the Year and OVC Tournament MVP.

In keeping with strict team policies as well to stay healthy, MSU was one of only a handful of teams in the nation to play all 27 of its regular-season games.

Spradlin took over as interim head coach midway through the 2016-17 season and was named full time head coach following the season. He is an Alice Lloyd (Ky.) alum.