Boston, MA -- The Northeast Conference (NEC) is home to three of the ten finalists for the 2013 Joe B. Hall Award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in Division I college basketball as announced on Thursday.
Mount St. Mary's Jamion Christian, Wagner's Bashir Mason and LIU Brooklyn's Jack Perri join Kevin Baggett (Rider), Mike Martin (Brown), Dan Muller (Illinois State), Kevin Ollie (Connecticut), Richard Pitino (FIU), Nick Robinson (Southern Utah) and Travis Williams (Tennessee State) on the ballot.
All three coaches are headed to the NEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday.
This season, Mason has set a school record for overall (19) and conference (12) wins and is the youngest head coach in America at 29 years and 24 days.
Christian, 30, has the Mount riding an eight-game win streak, tying for the third-longest win streak in the school's Division I era (since 1988-89). The Mountaineers have rolled up 17 wins overall.
Perri, 37, is looking to make history with LIU Brooklyn, which hopes to become the first team in NEC history to win three straight conference championships. The Blackbirds are 18-13 on the year.
The award is named in the honor of Joe B. Hall who was given the task of following the legendary Adolph Rupp. In his first season at the University of Kentucky, Hall finished 20-8, won the SEC and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals.
From 1972 to 1985 Hall would win two-thirds of his games (297-100), receive four SEC Coach of the Year honors and win a National Championship (1978). Along with the 1978 title, Hall also guided Kentucky to a runner-up finish to UCLA in the 1975 NCAA tournament, a Final Four appearance in the 1984 NCAA Tournament and an NIT championship in 1976. He won eight SEC regular season championships and one SEC tournament championship (1984).
Hall is one of only three men to win an NCAA championship as a player (1949- Kentucky) and coach (1978- Kentucky). The only others to achieve this feat are Bob Knight and Dean Smith.
The 2013 recipient will be announced on April 5 at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in Atlanta, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.