Per Tim Booth from the Associated Press:
Brad Jackson, coach of national champ (ugh) Western Washington has been named NABC Div. II national coach of the year.
— Tim Booth (@ByTimBooth) March 26, 2012
Head coach Brad Jackson led the Western Washington Vikings to the school's first ever national championship on Saturday with a 72-65 victory over the Montevallo Falcons.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) collects votes from its member coaches to decide its national postseason honors. The last local coach to receive a similar award was Don Zech in 1976 who was the head coach of Puget Sound University.
Jackson collected win 500 in January to rank him third on Washington state's list of most winningest coaches of four-year colleges. The state's 500 win club includes the likes of Marv Harshman, Dean and Leo Nicholson and Hec Edmunson.
In 27 seasons at Western Washington, Jackson has led the VIkings to 19 post season appearances and 12 20-win seasons. Prior to his hiring in 1985, Jackson coached at the high school level at Olympia for four seasons and at Eastside Catholic for one season. Jackson was also an assistant at Seattle Pacific University for five seasons prior to his high school coaching.
Note: Tim Booth is a Central Washington graduate, which explains the "ugh" in the middle of his tweet.