YOSINOFF RECEIVES RED AUERBACH COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Emmanuel College Head Women’s Basketball Coach Andy Yosinoff received the 2012 Jewish Coaches Association Red Auerbach Award, an honor presented to college basketball’s Jewish Coach of the Year. Yosinoff received the prestigious award after leading the Emmanuel Women’s Basketball Team to the NCAA Division III National Quarterfinals last month.  The Red Auerbach Award was presented to Yosinoff on March 31^st in New Orleans, Louisiana at the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four Convention.

The Red Auerbach Award is given annually to the nation’s top Jewish college coach, as voted upon by the members of the Jewish Coaches Association (JCA). In 2009 the JCA named its college coach of the year award after Red Auerbach, the coaching legend who won 938 games (a record at his retirement) and nine NBA championships as a coach. As general manager and team president of the Boston Celtics, Auerbach won an additional seven NBA titles, for a grand total of 16 in a span of 29 years, making him one of the most successful team officials in the history of professional sports.

This was the third year that the JCA has honored the nation’s top Jewish coach.  University of Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner received the award last year and Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl was honored in 2010.  After being named a finalist in 2011, Yosinoff was once again among tough competition for this year’s Auerbach Award.  In addition to Yosinoff, the JCA recognized two Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches as finalists for the award.  Rob Senderoff led the Kent State Golden Flashes to a 21-win season and the program’s 13^th post-season tournament.  Ben Braun, in his fourth season at Rice University, led the Owls to the team’s first post-season tournament since 2005.

By winning the Red Auerbach Award, Yosinoff is both the first collegiate women’s coach and the first Division III coach to receive the honor.  These firsts are just the tip of the iceberg for Yosinoff, who has taken the Emmanuel women’s program to extraordinary heights in his 35 years at the helm.  This year, the Pawtucket, Rhode Island native led the Saints to Emmanuel’s 17^th NCAA Tournament appearance and to the program’s 14^th Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship.

While the women’s basketball team at Emmanuel has been a perennial powerhouse in New England for several decades, the Saints’ recent success has been remarkable, with all of it coming under the direction of Yosinoff.  Coach Yosinoff and the Saints have put together a streak of twelve consecutive twenty-win seasons and have won six-straight GNAC titles.  In addition to this year’s Elite Eight appearance, Yosinoff led Emmanuel to the NCAA Division III Final Four in 2001 and to the Sweet Sixteen in 2007.

Yosinoff has been honored numerous times for his coaching success over the years, including being inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2010. Yosinoff was selected to be the USA Maccabiah Open Head Women's Basketball Coach and led the USA National Team to its first-ever gold medal in the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel.  After Emmanuel’s success this season, Yosinoff was named the D3hoops.com Northeast Coach of the Year.

While all of his accolades have been humbling, to be mentioned in the same sentence with one of his childhood idols is extra special for Yosinoff.  “To even be considered for an award which is a tribute to the greatest Jewish coach of all time in Red Auerbach, is amazing.  To have been selected for this honor, is just incredible,” said Yosinoff.  “Growing up in a kosher Jewish environment in my home, this award really means a lot to me and to my father.”  At a young 93 years old, Yosinoff’s father, Louis, a life-long Pawtucket, Rhode Island native, is a dedicated supporter of his son and a devoted Emmanuel Saints fan.  Louis Yosinoff was courtside in Providence to see his son lead the Saints past Rhode Island College this year in the NCAA Regional Finals.

Yosinoff, who began his career at Emmanuel in 1978, is the all-time winningest Jewish collegiate basketball coach at any level for both men and women.  Among his Division III peers, he is the nation’s third active winningest women’s basketball coach by victories and fourth in all-time history.  Yosinoff has Emmanuel ranked the eighth winningest team in Division III women’s basketball history with a .753 winning percentage (686 wins and 225 losses).  The Saints’ 686 wins rank them fifth all-time in Division III for overall victories.

Emmanuel College, founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1919, is a coed, residential, Catholic liberal arts and sciences college located in the city of Boston. Its beautiful 17-acre campus is neighbored by a world-class medical center, two major art museums and Fenway Park. Its unique location gives students the opportunity to explore real-world experiences through internships, research and strategic partnerships within the Longwood Medical and Academic Area and the city of Boston.