Rick Byrd
Belmont University
Rick Byrd received the John R. Wooden Award “Legends of Coaching” honor in 2022. Coach Byrd, a native of Knoxville, TN, systematically led Belmont University to national prominence in both NCAA Division I and NAIA over 33 years. He ranks 12th all-time among NCAA Division I head coaches with 805 career victories. He led the Bruins to eight NCAA Tournament appearances and 17 conference championships (10 regular season, 7 conference tournament) in this final 14 seasons and national top 25 poll votes in eight of his last nine years. Even more important than his on-court success, Byrd established an unparalleled standard of academic achievement among NCAA Division I programs. Since 2001, Belmont leads the nation in Academic All-America selections and is the only program to rank among the nation’s best every year since the inception of the Academic Progress Rate (APR).