Chris Beard was named the 2025 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year, an honor awarded annually to the top head coach in Division I basketball, on Monday.
Introduced in 2003, the award is named after legendary Saint Mary’s coach Jim Phelan, who spent 49 years with the Gaels, amassed 800 wins and earned a spot in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. Beard will be honored in San Antonio at the Alamodome — the home of the men’s NCAA Championship Game which takes place on April 7.
The list of previous winners is vast and filled with legendary coaches including John Calapari, Tubby Smith, Tony Bennett, Bob Huggins and Mark Adams.