BOSTON – William & Mary head coach Dane Fischer was named a national finalist for a pair of national coach of the year awards presented by CollegeInsider.com. Fischer was selected a finalist for the 2019-20 Hugh Durham Award, presented annually to the top mid-major coach in Division I college basketball, and the Joe B. Hall Award, which is presented annually to first-year head coach in Division I.
 
Fischer was one of 25 national finalists for the Durham Award and one of two from the Colonial Athletic Association, along with Hofstra's Joe Mihalich. ETSU head coach Steve Forbes was named the recipient of the award after leading the Bucs to a 30-4 record, one of only four teams in the nation to win 30 games this season.
 
The Tribe head coach was one of 15 finalists for the Joe B. Hall Award and one of two in the CAA along with Elon's Mike Schrage. Niagara's Greg Paulus was the recipient of the 2019-20 Joe B. Hall Award.
 
Fischer was named both the CAA and NABC District 10 Coach of the Year this season. After taking over the helm of the Tribe program in April of 2019, Fischer led the Tribe to the program's best regular-season win total since 1950. W&M's 21 wins in 2019-20 are the fourth-most in program history and the second-most for a rookie head coach in the country this season. After W&M was picked seventh in the preseason CAA poll, he led the Tribe to a second-place finish during the regular season during his first season as a head coach. Fischer guided W&M to school record-tying totals in conference wins (13) and road wins (10) as well.
 
The Durham Award is named after Hugh Durham who built winning programs at three different universities. In eight seasons as the head coach at Jacksonville University, Durham became the Dolphins' all-time winningest Division I coach with 106 victories, making him the only coach in NCAA history to be the winningest coach (pct. or wins) at three different Division I schools.

Durham built national programs at Florida State and Georgia. He holds the record for best winning percentage with a 230-95 (.708) record in 12 years with the Seminoles. Durham is also the all-time winningest coach in the 99-year history of the Bulldog program, having won 297 games in 17 seasons.

The Hugh Durham Award committee is a 30-member panel, consisting of five current Division I head coaches, five retired head coaches, 10 current athletic directors and/or conference administrators, five members of the national media and five collegeinsider.com staff members. Coaches of teams in the following conferences are eligible for the award: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Great West, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast.
 
The Joe B. Hall Award is named in honor of the longtime Kentucky assistant and successor to legendary Adolph Rupp at the school. In his first season, Hall finished 20-8, won the SEC and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals. Hall coached the Wildcats from 1972 to 1985. He won two-thirds of his games (297-100), received four SEC Coach of the Year honors and won a National Championship in 1978. He also steered the program to two other Final Fours, won eight Southeastern Conference regular-season championships and one Southeastern Conference tournament championship (1984). 
 
The Joe B. Hall award committee is a 15-member panel, consisting of five current Division I head coaches, five retired head coaches and five collegeinsider.com staff members. Former Kentucky All-American Kyle Macy is the chairman of the awards committee.