FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- For the second straight season, Fairfield University Head Men's Basketball Coach Sydney Johnson was selected as a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award. Johnson was also a finalist when he was the head coach at Princeton University following the 2010-11 campaign.

Johnson has led the Stags to their third straight postseason tournament appearance in 2011-12. The team owns a 19-14 overall mark and advanced to the 2012 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Basketball Tournament championship game. Johnson could become only the second men's basketball coach in Fairfield history to win 20 games in his first season at the helm with a win in the team's upcoming postseason game.

The Ben Jobe Award is presented annually to the top minority coach in division I men's basketball. Coach Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He has also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee and South Carolina State.

His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was Southern's 93-78 win over Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.

The winner will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet on March 30 in New Orleans, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.