VUU’s Gilbert Wins Gaines Award

Salisbury, NC
The National Sports Media Association (NSMA) has named Virginia Union University women’s head basketball coach AnnMarie Gilbert and James Jones, Yale University head men’s basketball coach, as the 2015-16 Big House Gaines College Basketball Coaches of the Year. Gilbert & Jones will be recognized at the NSMA’s 57th Awards Banquet on June 20 in Salisbury, NC. “We are pleased to recognize Coach Jones and Coach Gilbert for the outstanding jobs they did this season,” NSMA executive director Dave Goren said. “Both of their teams had historic seasons and truly deserve this award.”

Gilbert finished her first season at Virginia Union with a 28-3 record. The Panthers won both the CIAA Northern Division title and the CIAA Tournament championship, before winning three games in the NCAA Division II Tournament (Atlantic Region Champions) and making it all the way to the Elite Eight (national quarterfinals). The Gaines Awards are named for Winston-Salem State University head men’s basketball coach Clarence ‘Big House’ Gaines. During 47 seasons as WSSU’s head coach, Gaines’s teams won 828 games, including the 1967 NCAA Division II national championship.