Junior A. Fabiano
April 7, 2009
Willard John Kraemer Jr.
April 9, 2009
For the second time in his career, Nicholls’ head basketball coach J.P. Piper was named CollegeInsider.com‘s Southland Conference Coach of the Year, while senior Ryan Bathie picked up SLC Co-MVP accolades.
Piper was also named the Web site’s 2006-07 SLC Coach of the Year after leading the Colonels to victories in five of their last seven SLC matchups and falling just one point shy of an SLC Tournament berth.
Following the conclusion of the regular season, Piper was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year, as voted on by the league’s coaches and sports information desks, while Bathie earned First Team All-Conference honors.
Piper was also a finalist for the 2009 Hugh Durham Award, given annually to the nation’s top Mid-Major Coach of the Year. That award was presented at the Final Four Monday.
In his five seasons at the helm of the Colonels, the coach has compiled a 53-93 record, improving his number of wins each year. Under Piper, the Colonels finished this season 20-11, making the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time since 2000-01.
Bathie, a Melton, Australia native who attended Mowbray, was named Co-MVP of the league along with Sam Houston State’s Ashton Mitchell.
The 6-6 forward averaged a team-best 15.8 points per game for Nicholls this past season, helping lead the Colonels to their opening-round victory of the conference tournament.
Through four seasons at Nicholls, Bathie notched 1,433 career points, joining the exclusive 1000 Point Club earlier this season. He is also the Colonels’ all-time leading three-point shooter, finishing his career with 261 three-pointers.
Nicholls State head basketball coach J.P. Piper talks with a referee during first round action of the Southland Conference basketball tournament. Piper was honored by CollegeInsider.com as its 2009 Southland Conference Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER
