The Henry Iba Award was established in 1959 to recognize the best men's college basketball coach of the year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Five nominees are presented and the individual with the most votes receives the award, which is presented in conjunction with the Final Four. The award is named for Henry Iba, who coached at Oklahoma State from 1934 to 1970. Iba won the NCAA College Championship in 1945 and 1946 and coached the U.S. Olympic Teams to two gold medals in 1964 and 1968. The award is presented at the Oscar Robertson Trophy Breakfast on the Friday before the Final Four.
Legendary UCLA Bruins coach John Wooden has the most allâÂÂtime selections with seven. Seven other coaches have won multiple Henry Iba Awards, with only Tony Bennett of Washington State and Virginia receiving it more than twice. Bennett is also one of only two coaches to have received the award at more than one program, joining Kelvin Sampson who was honored at Oklahoma and Houston. The school's with the secondâÂÂmost winners are Michigan, Ohio State and St. John's, each receiving three, with Michigan being the only school to have had three separate coaches win the award (Johnny Orr, Juwan Howard, Dusty May).