University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Biedenbach to be Inducted into Big South Hall of Fame
04.02.2015 | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference announced its 2015 Hall of Fame Class on Wednesday with former UNC Asheville men's basketball coach Eddie Biedenbach among the four inductees.
Bedenbach is the Big South's all-time winningest men's basketball coach with 256 overall victories as well as the all-time leader with 156 Big South wins. Now the third head men's basketball coach to be enshrined in the Conference's Hall of Fame, Biedenbach was 20-14 all-time in the Big South Tournament, the most wins by any coach. UNC Asheville advanced to the Big South Tournament semifinals 12 times under Biedenbach, and reached the Championship game six times. He directed Asheville to five outright/shared regular-season championships (1997, 1998, 2002, 2008, 2012) and three Big South Tournament Championships (2003, 2011, 2012). Biedenbach led the Bulldogs to four NCAA postseason appearances (3 NCAA Tournament – 2003, 2011, 2012, 1 NIT – 2008), and the 2008 NIT appearance was the first-ever in Big South history.
Biedenbach is the only coach in League history with two NCAA Tournament victories (2003, 2011), and UNC Asheville became first men's basketball team in Big South history to win an NCAA Tournament contest in 2003. The 2011-12 squad won both the Big South regular-season and Tournament titles in the same year for the first time, and Asheville narrowly missed become the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed when it fell to Syracuse by seven points (72-65) in 2012. A three-time Coach of the Year (1997, 2002, 2008), the Bulldogs' 16-2 Big South record in 2011-12 set a school record and tied the Conference mark. He guided the Bulldog program to Top 4 finishes in the regular-season in 13 of his 17 seasons. Biedenbach went 256-258 in 17 seasons at UNC Asheville, including 156-102 record in Big South games, and was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame and Western North Carolina Hall of Fame in 2014, and the UNC Asheville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.
Joining Biedenbach in this year's Hall of Fame class are: former Campbell men's soccer player David Doyle, former Radford women's soccer player Sue Williams and former Coastal Carolina softball coach Jess Dannelly.
The Big South's Hall of Fame Class and will be officially inducted on Thursday evening, May 28, 2015, during a special ceremony as part of the Big South's annual spring meetings at the Marriott Resort in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
The Hall of Fame was created in 2003 as part of the League's 20th Anniversary celebration, and now totals 57 former Big South Conference student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors with the addition of this year's class.
