NCAA Basketball: Picking each league’s Coach of the Year for 2023-24 season

Summit League: Paul Sather (North Dakota)

This has been something of a down year in the Summit, though there’s still some pretty decent basketball being played. Oral Roberts is dreadful and South Dakota State has had their own struggles, so our attention turns instead to North Dakota. Sather is already in his fifth season leading the Fighting Hawks but is certainly having his breakthrough season.

Picked to finish 5th in the league, North Dakota instead sits atop the league standings, tied in first with South Dakota State. The Fighting Hawks are 9-4 in league play after having not finished above .500 yet in league play during Sather’s tenure. This season is currently a big step forward for a North Dakota team already boasting 17 wins. They’ve won nine of ten to put themselves in this position, but can they claim the regular season title with three games against the other Dakota schools still ahead?

Sun Belt: Mark Byington (James Madison)

Appalachian State currently leads the Sun Belt, but Dustin Kerns doesn’t get the nod today. We aren’t looking at someone like Scott Cross either, who’s having a breakthrough season at Troy. Instead the praise gets lobbed in a deserving direction on Byington. After all, James Madison did upset Michigan State on opening night and were nationally ranked earlier in the season.

Boasting an impressive 25-3 mark, the Dukes sit just half a game back of Appalachian State despite getting swept by those Mountaineers. Byington’s squad is having their best season and has now won seven games in a row to get back on track. It’s hard to argue against the coach of the 25-3 team that’s beaten a Top 5 team on the road, even if there are some intriguing coaches in the Sun Belt this year.