The games may be over, but the Aztecs keep making history.
USA Today named Brian Dutcher its National Coach of the Year. He joins Steve Fisher as the only San Diego State coaches to receive that recognition at the Division I level. Fisher did so from three separate bodies after the 2011 season.
Dutcher's award comes on the heels of the program's best regular season ever. The Aztecs went 28-1, including a 17-1 mark in the Mountain West - the best in conference history. SDSU won its first 26 games, rose as high as No. 4 in the national polls and had a shot at landing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The finished the season 30-2.
He orchestrated a dramatic turnaround following a 21-13 season that fell well short of the NCAA Tournament. Dutcher brought in three key transfers: Malachi Flynn, KJ Feagin and Yanni Wetzell. The last two were graduate transfers that served as key pieces in their only season on campus. Flynn became the conference's Player of the Year.
He is also the only first team All-American in program history. Sports Illustrated put the Washington State transfer on its top squad. Since the Aztecs joined Division I in 1970, no previous player had landed a first team nod from any publication.
Flynn averaged 17.6 points per game, to go with 5.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds. He started all 32 games, and scored in double figures in 31 of them. In 21 games he paced SDSU in scoring and assists.
