Mike Brey, James Jones, Lisa Bluder and Ernie Johnson will be this year’s recipients of the Joe Lapchick Character Award.
Brey was the winningest coach in Notre Dame history, coaching at the school for 23 years. He recorded 483 of his 582 total victories at the school, leading the team to 13 NCAA tournament appearances and two trips to the Elite Eight.
In 2015, Notre Dame went 32-6 and reached the Elite Eight after beating Miami, Duke and North Carolina to win the ACC tournament championship. The 2011 AP Coach of the Year also coached at Delaware before getting the job at Notre Dame.
Jones is in his 27th season at Yale, winning 418 games — second most in Ivy League history. He has led the Bulldogs to five NCAA tournament berths, with wins over Baylor in 2016 and Auburn in 2024, and nine postseason appearances.
He was the 2019 recipient of the Ben Jobe Award as the top minority coach in Division I men’s basketball and has gone 108-32 in the Ivy League over the past decade coming into this season.
Bluder had an incredible 40-year coaching career, including spending the final 24 seasons at Iowa. She retired in 2024 after leading the Hawkeyes to the national championship game in two straight seasons while coaching Caitlin Clark. She had 894 wins, which was third among active coaches when she retired.
She was the Naismith Coach of the Year in 2019 and Big Ten Coach of the Year three times. Bluder received the Carol Eckman Coaches Award in 2016, given annually to the coach who exhibits sportsmanship, ethical behavior and commitment to the student-athlete.
Bluder is the winningest coach in Big Ten history, going 528-254. She began her coaching career as head coach at St. Ambrose University for six seasons (1985-90), leading the Bees to two NAIA final four appearances. She went from there to Drake for 10 years before coming to Iowa.
Johnson is the longtime host of “Inside the NBA”, which has now moved to ESPN. He has won eight national sports Emmys as a top studio host and has also been part of the coverage of the men’s NCAA tournament over the past 15 years.
He was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2023. Besides basketball, Johnson has also broadcast baseball, golf and the Olympics.
This is the 18th year the award will be presented to those who have shown the character traits of Lapchick, who coached at St. John’s and with the New York Knicks. The quartet will be honored at a luncheon on Sept. 18 in New York.
