![Tubby Smith, men's basketball head coach, speaking at the Sports Leadership Seminar at the Pentagon, May 2014. Photo by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Flickr: 140507-D-HU462-310) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/mynewsla.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Tubby_Smith.jpg?ssl=1)
The award recognizes coaches who exemplify the late UCLA coach’s high standards of coaching success and personal integrity.
Smith has 538 victories in his 24-year head coaching career, including winning the 1998 national championship at Kentucky. He also coached at Minnesota, Tulsa and Georgia.
Smith will receive the award on April 8 at the second annual ESPN College Basketball Awards Show. The announcement of the award was made by Wooden’s daughter Nan at the annual Wooden Award Tipoff Luncheon at the Los Angeles Athletic Club Tuesday.
The honor has been presented since 1999, with honorees selected based on character, success on the court, graduation rates of the players in their program, coaching philosophy and identification with the goals of the John R. Wooden Award.
Past recipients include the late North Carolina coach Dean Smith, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and former Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt.
—City News Service