March 13, 2007

ATLANTA, Ga. (BGSUFalcons.com) - Bowling Green State University women's basketball coach Curt Miller has been named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year, the WBCA office announced late Monday (March 12).

Miller, who earns the regional honor for the second year in a row, is now a finalist for the WBCA National Coach-of-the-Year award.

Miller is in very good company, as the other NCAA Division I regional winners and national C-O-Y finalists include Geno Auriemma (Connecticut - Region 1), Gail Goestenkors (Duke - Region 2), Pat Summitt (Tennessee - Region 3), Rick Insell (Middle Tennessee State - Region 5), Sharon Versyp (Purdue - Region 6), Gordy Presnell (Boise State - Region 7) and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford - Region 8).

The winners are selected through a two-level process. The first level is by region, in which coaches from each WBCA geographical region vote for their respective top coach. If a coach has been selected as Regional Coach of the Year, they advance as a finalist to the national level of the selection process along with the other Regional Coaches of the Year in their respective division. The number of coaches varies depending on affiliation.

The national winners will be honored on Monday, April 2 at 12:00 p.m. (ET) during the Russell Athletic/WBCA Coach of the Year Luncheon presented by AstraZeneca in Cleveland, Ohio. The luncheon is part of the 2007 WBCA National Convention, held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women's Final Four.

All Miller has done is lead the Falcons to a 29-3 overall record, a 15-1 Mid-American Conference mark and the team's third-straight regular-season and tournament titles. Miller was named MAC Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season. BGSU has a mark of 80-14 in those three seasons, and the Falcons are 101-24 over the last four years, since the current senior class arrived on campus.

The Falcons have earned a #7 seed in the Greensboro Regional for the 2007 NCAA Championships. BG will face Oklahoma State in NCAA first-round action in East Lansing, Mich., on Sunday (March 18) at approximately 2:30 p.m.

In other news, the latest Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN national polls have been released. The Falcons remain 20th in the AP poll, and BGSU has dropped one spot, to 19th, in the USA Today/ESPN poll. The complete polls follow ...

USA TODAY ESPN DIVISION I TOP 25 COACHES' POLL

The Top 25 women's basketball coaches poll, with team's RECORDS THROUGH MONDAY in parentheses, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last week's poll and first-place votes received:

Dropped out: No. 25 California.

Others receiving votes: California (23-8) 28; Xavier (26-7) 15; New Mexico (24-8) 14; Montana (27-3) 9; Old Dominion (24-8) 7; Pittsburgh (23-8) 4; James Madison (27-5) 3; Nebraska (22-9) 3; Brigham Young (23-9) 2; Temple (24-7) 2; Hartford (24-8) 1; Louisiana-Lafayette (25-8) 1; Tulane (25-6) 1.

Associated Press Top-25 Women's College Basketball Poll