Mattox finalist for Joe B. Hall Award

MBB: The former Murray State assistant just finished his first season as Morehead State Head Coach

Jonathan Mattox was an assistant at Murray State for two seasons from 2022-24. (Photo: Murray State Athletics)

Morehead State Head Coach Jonathan Mattox has been named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award, given to the top first-time head coach in Division I college basketball.

Mattox led the Eagles to 15 wins this year in his first season. That’s the second-highest win total for a first-year Morehead State coach, trailing only Bobby Laughlin's 16 in 1953-54.

When Steve Prohm returned to Murray State in 2022, he hired Mattox away from Morehead State after Mattox had spent nine seasons with the Eagle program in a variety of capacities. When Preston Spradlin left Morehead to become the head coach at James Madison last spring, Mattox returned to Morehead to lead a program for the first time.

The Joe B. Hall Award is named in honor of the former Kentucky head coach who led UK to an SEC championship and a trip to the Elite Eight in his first season.

The winner of the award will be announced during Final Four weekend in San Antonio next month.

Here are the finalists for the this year’s Joe B. Hall award:

Patrick Crarey II - Florida A&M
Mike DeGeorge - Cal Poly
Ethan Faulkner - Youngstown State
Kahil Fennell - UT Rio Grande Valley
Cornelius Jackson - Marshall
John Jakus - FAU
Jon Jaques - Cornell
Mike Jones - Old Dominion
Donny Lind - Mount St. Mary's
Jonathan Mattox - Morehead State
Ben McCollum - Drake
Gerry McNamara - Siena
Hank Plona - Western Kentucky
Clint Sargent - Wright State
Ivan Thomas - Hampton
Kevin Young - BYU