Mullins named to ESPN's 40 under 40
05/13/2020 | 11:23:00 | Men's Basketball
SIU head coach Bryan Mullins was named one of ESPN's "40 under 40," honoring the top-40 men's basketball coaches in the nation under 40 years old.Â
After helping lead Loyola to the Final Four in 2018 and two MVC titles, Mullins earned his first head coaching job at his alma mater, SIU, in 2019. Taking over a team depleted by six graduating seniors, and then losing top returner Aaron Cook Jr. after just six games due to injury, Mullins pulled off one of the most unlikely seasons in the country in 2019-20. The Salukis outperformed the preseason expectations set by ESPN's BPI, KenPom, Sagarin, Norlander, and Sports Illustrated.Â
SIU was picked last in the preseason poll but won 10 conference games, a league record for a team that was picked to finish last. Mullins guided SIU to 10-consecutive home wins and seven-straight MVC wins, both of which were the longest such winning streaks for the program since the late 2000s when Mullins was a player, helping guide SIU to the 2007 Sweet Sixteen. After the 2019-20 season, Mullins was the runner-up for the MVC Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award, given to the nation's top first-year head coach.Â
ESPN's assessment:
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His profile and prospects were magnified when he served as the associate head coach under Porter Moser during Loyola Chicago's run to the Final Four in 2018. His first season as the head coach at Southern Illinois this season included a respectable 16-16 mark and a 10-8 record in Missouri Valley Conference play. -- Myron Medcalf
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See the full article at ESPN.com.
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Players Mentioned
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