University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Coach Mock Recognized as HERO Sports Coach of the Year
03.31.2016 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE N.C. - UNC Asheville's head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick has been named HERO Sports DI women's basketball Coach of the Year, the organization announced yesterday afternoon. This is coach Kirkpatrick's second Coach of the Year honor this season, as she was elected as the 2015-16 Big South Conference Coach of the year at the end of the regular season earlier this year.
Coach Kirkpatrick is in her fourth year as head coach for the Bulldogs. This season, Kirkpatrick amassed 26 wins, bettering her record of the past three seasons combined of 22 victories. To start the 2015-16 season, the Bulldogs also matched the program's best start of 9-1 before falling to Clemson University on the road in December.
Kirkpatrick and the Bulldogs captured the Big South Conference regular season crown for the first time in program history this year, despite being picked to finish 8th in the league in the Big South Conference Preseason Poll released in late October. In the process, Asheville also set a new school record for most Big South Conference wins at 16, replacing a previous best of nine.
Following a regular season for the record books, Kirkpatrick led Asheville to the program's second Big South Conference Tournament Championship. With wins over Campbell University, Presbyterian College and previous conference champion, Liberty University, Asheville earned its bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs were selected as a No. 14 seed to face the No. 3 seeded Kentucky Wildcats in the first round of the tournament. Asheville closed their Cinderella season with a loss on the road in Lexington for a final record of 26-7, the best in program history.
