Former Belmont University men’s basketball head coach Rick Byrd has been named recipient of the 2022 John R. Wooden Award Legends of Coaching honor, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Tuesday.
The Legends of Coaching Award will be presented along with the Wooden Award Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year in April 2022.
First handed out in 1999, Wooden Award Legends of Coaching distinction is regarded as the highest honor in collegiate coaching; recipients comprise a veritable who’s who in the history of college basketball, including Mike Krzyzewski, Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma and inaugural recipient Dean Smith.
“There is no coach in the history of the game of basketball that embodied excellence, integrity and humility like John Wooden,” Byrd said. “As a young man, I was certainly influenced by his remarkable coaching success, but even more so by his personal character and Christian commitment. The examples he set have stayed with me throughout my coaching career and personal life. I am overwhelmed and grateful to be named the recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award for 2022.”
This marks the latest honor for Byrd, who has been inducted in the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, NAIA Hall of Fame, Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame, Atlantic Sun Conference Hall of Fame and will be formally enshrined into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame this November in Kansas City.
Byrd, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction candidate, systematically led Belmont to national prominence in both NCAA Division I and NAIA. He ranks 12th all-time among NCAA Division I head coaches with 805 career victories.
The Knoxville, Tennessee native led Belmont to eight NCAA Tournament appearances (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2019) and 17 conference championships (10 regular season, seven tournament) in his final 14 years, national top 25 poll votes eight of his last nine years and notable victories over the likes of North Carolina, UCLA, Marquette, Cincinnati, Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Stanford, Butler and Temple, among others.
In fact, Belmont’s victory at UCLA in Byrd’s final season served as a precursor to an NCAA Tournament at-large bid; just the second to a traditional one-bid league in the decade of the 2010’s (Iona, 2012) and the first awarded to the Ohio Valley Conference since 1987.
Byrd led Belmont on a tour of the Wooden exhibit at the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame during the trip.
Moreover, for programs with at least six decades of history, Byrd retired first among NCAA Division I head coaches when ranked by percentage of schools’ all-time wins; accounting for a staggering 62.4 percent of Belmont’s total victories.
A 14-time district or conference coach of the year, Byrd’s career conference winning percentage of .797 (447-114) ranks second in NCAA Division I, behind only Mark Few of Gonzaga.
Under Byrd’s leadership, the Bruin program was marked by sustained excellence, one of only nine NCAA Division I programs to win 19 or more games each of his final 14 seasons (BYU, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina and San Diego State).
Five Belmont players earned Associated Press All-America recognition (Adam Sonn, Alex Renfroe, Ian Clark, J.J. Mann, Evan Bradds). Clark won an NBA Championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2017.
But of even greater significance to Byrd, Belmont established an unparalleled standard of academic achievement among NCAA Division I programs. Since 2001, Belmont leads the nation in Academic All-America selections (18, including Luke Smith in 2021) and is the only program to rank among the nation’s best every year since inception of the Academic Progress Rate (APR).
Furthermore, in the NCAA Division I era, every Belmont player who completed eligibility under Byrd’s watch earned his degree, with only two scholarship student-athletes transferring out over his final 15 years.
Byrd served as NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules’ Committee Chairman from 2013-15, whereby sweeping measures including the reduction of the shot clock, expansion of the restricted arc for block/charge calls, and freedom of movement and pace of play were instituted.
Byrd received the 2012 NCAA Bob Frederick award for his lifelong commitment to sportsmanship, ethical conduct and fair play.
Prior to Belmont, Byrd served as head coach at Lincoln Memorial (TN) University and Maryville (TN) College.
For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
Belmont University men’s basketball has earned postseason invitations 14 of the last 16 seasons, including nine berths to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins have won 20 conference championships since 2006 – third-most nationally over that span (Gonzaga, Kansas). Belmont is one of only six NCAA Division I programs outside the Power 5 to post Top 100 rankings 11 consecutive seasons (BYU, Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s (CA), San Diego State, Wichita State). Belmont is one of only four NCAA Division I programs to win 19 or more games 16 consecutive seasons (Gonzaga, Kansas, San Diego State). Belmont University men’s basketball boasts an NCAA-leading 18 CoSIDA Academic All-America selections since 2001 and is the only NCAA Division I program to make the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Honor Roll every year of existence
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