West Virginia University women’s basketball coach Mike Carey was named the 2009-10 Big East Conference Co-Coach of the Year on Friday.

Carey shares the honor with Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who led his team to a perfect 30-0 record. This is the second time Carey has won the award. He also won in 2003-04 when he guided that team to a 21-11 record.

“It’s definitely a team honor, not an individual honor,” Carey said. “Needless to say, if we didn’t have a good year and our players didn’t come out and play hard and didn’t do what we asked them, this wouldn’t be the situation. It’s a team honor between the players, assistant coaches and the staff.”

Carey led West Virginia to a regular season record of 26-4, including an undefeated 17-0 home record and a 13-3 conference record. The 26 wins in the most in regular season school history and it is the second time that a team has gone undefeated at home in school history.

“It’s always great to be voted upon by your peers within the Big East,” Carey said. “You’re talking about one of the top conferences in the country, so it’s a great honor, but I’m smart enough to know it’s not an individual honor, it’s a team honor.”

The Mountaineers began the season unranked and were picked to finish ninth in the league during the preseason Big East coaches’ poll. West Virginia finished the regular season second in the conference and ranked No. 7 in the nation. West Virginia has a double-bye in the 2009-10 Big East Tournament and will play the winner of DePaul and Villanova/Marquette on Sunday, March 7 at 6 p.m.

By Grant Dovey
For MSNsportsNET.com

03/05/10

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