April 4, 2024

GANNON’S JORDAN FEE RECIPIENT OF 2024 CLARANCE GAINES AWARD
Presented annually to the top head coach in division II college basketball.

PHOENIX, AZ -- Gannon University’s Jordan Fee is the recipient of the 2024 Clarence “Big House” Gaines award, which is presented annually to the top head coach in division II college basketball.

In his first season at Gannon University, Fee produced the greatest single-season turnaround in college basketball history. One year after going 3-23, the Golden Knights finished 32-3.

The ‘best single-season turnaround in NCAA history’ for both men's and women's basketball.

After starting the season 10-0, the Golden Knights lost 2 of 3, but then won a school-record 21 straight games before falling in the Elite 8.

In the process Gannon claimed the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West regular season crown, followed by its first PSAC Championship since 2015, and then captured the Atlantic Region title for the first time since 2009.   

"Jordan Fee is a name you will hear a lot in the future, said Joe Dwyer, President of CollegeInsider.com. "No coach in the history of the game has ever done what Coach Fee did this season in Erie, PA. His depth and up-tempo style changed the culture of Gannon basketball overnight. Jordan Fee is a name to remember."

Best Single-Season Turnarounds in NCAA History:

DI Men's Basketball
18 games—Southern Miss., 2023 (from 7-26 to 25-8)
DII Men's Basketball
18.5 games—N.M. Highlands, 2009 (from 1-26 to 20-8)
DIII Men's Basketball
17 games—Hunter, 1998 (from 9-17 to 28-2)
DI Women's Basketball
17 games—Valparaiso, 2002 (from 7-22 to 26-7)
DII Women's Basketball
18.5 games—Grand Canyon, 2007 (from 4-22 to 23-4)
DIII Women's Basketball
18.5 games—East Texas Baptist, 2018 (from 3-22 to 25-7)

Statistical Research by Nick Moeller from the NCAA

The Clarence Gaines Award is named in honor of the legendary Winston Salem State head coach.

One of the true legends of all-time, Clarence “Big House” Gaines retired from Winston-Salem State University in 1993 with a record of 828-446. At the time he was the winningest active basketball coach in NCAA history. Gaines was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982.

During his 47-year tenure as coach and athletic director at WSSU he coached professional basketball greats Cleo Hill, the first African-American from an historically Black college and university to be drafted No. 1 by the National Basketball Association, St. Louis Hawks, 1961, and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.

Coach Gaines passed away on April 18, 2005.

The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.