Lindenwood football coach Patrick Ross picks up coach of the year honors and a former Washington High School star is named the HAAC player of the year. Plus, the NAIA will continue to hold it’s postseason basketball championships in Kansas City for three more years.
Lindenwood redshirt freshman Denodus O’Bryant (Washington, Mo./Washington) was named the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Football Player of the Year on Tuesday. Twenty-two players were also honored on the all-conference list and head coach Patrick Ross was named the HAAC Coach of the Year.
O’Bryant, who was also named first-team running back and third-team kickoff returner, averages 134.8 all-purpose yards a game and has scored 17 touchdowns in nine games. On offense, he is averaging 75.8 rushing yards a game and a NAIA best 10.5 yards per carry. O’Bryant has also caught 14 passes for 25.1 yards a game. He has only had the opportunity to return six kickoffs, but he averaged 50.8 yards a return before opposing teams stopped kicking to him. O’Bryant is averaging a touchdown every 5.1 time that he touches the ball this season and he has 10 rushing touchdowns, three receiving scores, three kickoff return touchdown and a fumble recovery score.
Patrick Ross was named the Coach of the Year after leading Lindenwood to a perfect 10-0 HAAC season and the conference championship. It is the third time that he has won the HAAC Coach of the Year award and his fourth conference coach of the year honor in eight seasons as a head coach. Lindenwood will host Ottawa on Saturday afternoon in a NAIA Football Championship Series Quarterfinal contest.
College basketball’s oldest postseason tournament will continue to be played in Kansas City for at least another four years. The NAIA announced a three-year extension with Kansas City to have Municipal Auditorium host the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship through 2013. The tournament has been hosted by Kansas City for every year since 1937 with the exception of 1994-2001 when the tournament was in Tulsa, OK.
