Shaver Named CollegeInsider.com CAA Coach of the Year

Head coach Tony Shaver won the accolade from CollegeInsider.com for the second straight season.

04/14/08 11:45AM

Williamsburg - For the second straight year, William and Mary head men’s basketball coach Tony Shaver was named the CollegeInsider.com Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year. Shaver also received the league’s coach of the year accolade in a vote of the conference’s coaches, sports information directors and media prior to the CAA Championship in March. Shaver received the honor last season from CollegeInsider.com after leading the Tribe to a 15-win season.

Along with the CAA honors, Shaver was named one of 10 finalists for the 2008 Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by CollegeInsider.com. Shaver guided the program to the CAA Championship game for the first time in school history, coming within a game of the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

W&M made its impressive run though the CAA Tournament with last-second victories in each of its first three games of the event, including a 56-54 win over top seed and CAA regular season champion VCU in the semifinals. In the opening round, a David Schneider 25-foot 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining gave the Tribe a 58-57 win over Georgia State. Senior Nathan Mann canned a triple from the left wing with the score tied at 60 and only 7.5 seconds remaining to give the College 63-60 triumph over No. 4 seed Old Dominion in the quarterfinals, before senior Laimis Kisielius’ leaning six-foot bank shot with three seconds left sent the Tribe to the finals with the narrow victory over VCU.

During the 2007-08 campaign, W&M won 17 games, marking only the sixth time in school history that a Tribe team had won 17 or more contests. W&M finished fifth in the league on the strength of a 10-8 CAA ledger. It marked only the second time in the Tribe’s 23-year history in the CAA that it has won double-digit games.

W&M completed its first winning season in a decade under Shaver and post back-to-back seasons of 15-or-more wins for the first time in a quarter of a century at the College. The Tribe won nine games that were decided by four or less points, including a quartet of victories from which W&M rallied from a double-digit deficit. The Green and Gold also established CAA records for 3-pointers made (257) and attempted (755) in a season.

Earlier in the year, Shaver tallied his 400th career collegiate victory as the Tribe downed Fairfield, 71-50, on Dec. 31. Also during the 2007-08 season, W&M had only its 10th winning streak of six or more games since 1950 and won four-straight CAA road games for the first time in school history.