Nine Penn State athletes, coaches and teams have been nominated for the Sixth Annual Big Ten Network Awards Show, which airs at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26. The show will feature interviews with selected award winners; both coaches and players.
Penn State’s NCAA Wrestling National Champion Ed Ruth and the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year Christine Nairn are nominated for the Male and Female Athlete of the Year Awards. Both Ruth and Nairn were named Penn State’s 2012-13 Athletes of the Year earlier in June.
Penn State wide receiver Allen Robinson is one of four candidates for the Breakout Performer of the Year. Robinson led the Big Ten in every major statistical category for wide receivers, including receptions (77), receiving yards (1,013), and receiving TDs (11).The other nominees for the honor are Michigan’s Trey Burke (basketball), Northwestern’s Venric Mark (football) and Indiana’s Victor Oladipo (basketball).
In the Men’s Coach of the Year category, Nittany Lion wrestling coach Cael Sanderson and football coach Bill O’Brien are both potential winners. Sanderson and O’Brien are joined by Michigan basketball’s John Beilein, Indiana soccer’s Todd Yeagley and Indiana baseball’s Tracy Smith. Sanderson has won the award each of the past two years.
Women’s head soccer coach Erica Walsh is one of four finalists for Women’s Coach of the Year, along with Northwestern lacrosse’s Kelly Amonte Hiller, Minnesota ice hockey’s Brad Frost and Michigan’s volleyball’s Mark Rosen. Walsh led the Nittany Lions to the program’s 15th-straight Big Ten Title and the team’s first appearance in the NCAA National Championship game. The Nittany Lions lost in the title game to North Carolina 4-1.
Penn State’s Big Ten and NCAA Champion wrestling squad is one of four nominations for Men’s Team of the Year. The Nittany Lions are joined by Indiana soccer, Michigan swimming, Ohio State football and Indiana baseball.
The Nittany Lions hold two of the four nominations for Women’s Team of the Year, as Penn State soccer and volleyball are each nominees.
Penn State is the only Big Ten school with three candidates for both the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year and the only institution with nominations for both the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Team of the Year.
