April 1, 2025

VANDERBILT’S MARK BYINGTON RECIPIENT OF 2025 SKIP PROSSER AWARD
Honors those who win with integrity on and off the court

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Vanderbilt’s Mark Byington is the recipient of the 2025 Skip Prosser Man of the Year award. The award is presented annually to the division I coach who wins with integrity on and off the court.

In his first year at Vanderbilt, Byington has led the Commodores to their first 20-win regular season since 2011-12, earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017. The Dores knocked off four top 15 teams this season, the most for the program since 1987-88. Byington came within one win of matching Eddie Fogler for the most victories by a first-year Vanderbilt head coach, with Fogler winning 21 games in his 1989-90 debut.

“Mark Byington is a well deserving recipient of the Skip Prosser Man of the Year award,” said Angela Lento, Vice President of CollegeInsider.com. “In today’s ‘look at me’ world, Coach Byington’s humble manner saw him fly under the radar for many years. But make no mistake, he’s an excellent coach and an even better person. I’d want my son to play for Mark Byington.”

Byington came to Vanderbilt after leading James Madison to its most successful four-season stretch in over 30 years, highlighted by a victory in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. He was voted the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year after helping the Dukes to the 2020-21 regular season championship, and then after the school moved to the Sun Belt Conference, he helped James Madison record the highest NET ranking in program history as he was voted the Virginia State Coach of the Year after leading the Dukes to a 22-11 finish.

Prior to his stint at James Madison, Byington was head coach at Georgia Southern for seven seasons where he guided the Eagles to four 20-win campaigns -- including each of the last three, the first time for the program in 30 years.

Before taking over at Georgia Southern, Byington was an assistant coach at Virginia Tech during the 2012-13 season. He served two different stints on the staff at Charleston, first as assistant coach from 2002-04 and then as assistant and associate head coach from 2005-12. Byington also has experience as a graduate assistant (1999-01) and director of operations (2004-05) at Virginia and was an assistant coach at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy during the 2001-02 campaign.

The Skip Prosser Man of the Year award honors those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity on and off it as well.

In six years with the Deacons, Prosser posted a 126-68 record. For his career, he was 291-146 in 14 seasons including six as the head coach at Xavier and one year at Loyola (Md.).

At Wake Forest, Prosser's teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in arguably the nation's most difficult league, the Atlantic Coast Conference. Prosser won 100 games at an ACC school quicker than all but two coaches in the 55-year history of the conference. He coached NBA stars Chris Paul and Josh Howard, led the Demon Deacons to the first No. 1 national ranking in school history and earned ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2003.

Prosser passed away of an apparent heart attack on July 26, 2007, in his office at Wake Forest. He had just returned from his morning jog.

SKIP PROSSER AWARD FINALISTS