CONTRIBUTED BY ETSU ATHLETICS

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — East Tennessee State University men’s basketball head coach Steve Forbes earned District Coach of the Year honors by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), as the organization announced its Division I All-District teams and coaches on Monday.

In addition, Tray Boyd III (Memphis) landed first-team honors and Bo Hodges (Nashville) was placed on the second team.

 

Forbes, the Southern Conference Coach of the Year, helped guide the Bucs to a 30-4 record in 2019-20, becoming just the fourth team in SoCon history to reach the 30-win mark, as well as setting a new program record.

The Bucs captured both the SoCon regular season and tournament titles en route to generating a school-record .882 win percentage, which ranked sixth among Division I programs this season.

ETSU’s 30 wins were tied for the second-most this season, while the Bucs were just one of four teams to reach the mark – joining No. 2 Gonzaga (31), No. 6 San Diego State (30) and Liberty.

Forbes, who was named Mid-Major Coach of the Year last week, saw his Bucs finish No. 26 in the Coaches Poll and No. 27 in the AP Poll.

 

Boyd, a first-team All-SoCon selection and all-tournament team member led the Blue and Gold in points (463), three-pointers made (81) and steals (51). The senior guard scored in double figures 25 times, including his final 12 games of the season.

Boyd netted a career-high 30 points while draining career-best six trays in the 82-65 win over UNCG on Feb. 1. Boyd also set career highs in rebounds (8, at Samford) and steals (8, vs. Mars Hill) earlier this year. The Memphis native shot 90 percent at the free-throw line (60-67), while making 26 of his last 27 attempts.

Hodges, also a first-team all-conference selection, was the only Division I player this season to register at least 420 points, 190 rebounds, 80 assists, 45 steals and 26 blocks.

The Nashville native became the 42nd player in program history to reach the 1,000-point club as he accomplished the feat in the Bucs’ win over Wofford in the SoCon title game.

Hodges led the Blue and Gold in scoring seven times, while scoring in double figures 23 times and netting 20-plus points three times, including a career-high 27-point performance in the home win over Chattanooga.

Following the Chattanooga game, where he also totaled eight rebounds, five steals, two assists, and two steals, Hodges earned his first SoCon Player of the Week award, as he became just the seventh Division I player since 2010-11 to register those stats in a game.

Two games later, Hodges totaled his second career double-double after finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the 82-65 win over UNCG.

 

The teams are selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC in NCAA Division I.