KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NABC on Thursday announced the recipients of the 2025 NABC Mike Krzyzewski Award, NABC Hillyard Golden Anniversary Award, NABC Cliff Wells Appreciation Award, and NABC International Lifetime Achievement Award.
Legendary St. Anthony High School coach Bob Hurley Sr. will receive the 2025 NABC Mike Krzyzewski Award – renamed this year after being previously known as the NABC Metropolitan Award – while longtime Saint Joseph’s and Michigan coach Phil Martelli has been selected as the 2025 NABC Hillyard Golden Anniversary Award winner. Natalie Morrison, director of the Coaches vs. Cancer program, will be presented with the 2025 NABC Cliff Wells Appreciation Award.
The Mike Krzyzewski Award and Cliff Wells Appreciation Award recognize coaches, administrators and contributors who have made significant impacts on the game of basketball and the NABC, while the Golden Anniversary Award honors coaches who have devoted at least 50 years of service to the sport.
Additionally, the NABC International Committee will present its Lifetime Achievement Award to former college and NBA coach John Beilein. The honor recognizes coaches who have contributed to growing the game of basketball both domestically and abroad.
NABC Mike Krzyzewski Award – Bob Hurley Sr., former St. Anthony High School (N.J.) head coach
Bob Hurley Sr. is one of the most influential coaches in American high school basketball history. He assumed the head coach role at St. Anthony High in Jersey City, N.J. in 1972, where he would win 26 state titles and accomplish eight unbeaten seasons over 45 years. Hurley has helped countless coaches improve through his clinics and educational resources, and he continues to invest in the game’s next generation through The Hurley Family Foundation. The 2010 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee is the father of UConn coach Dan Hurley and Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley.
NABC Hillyard Golden Anniversary Award – Phil Martelli, former Saint Joseph’s head coach and Michigan assistant coach
Phil Martelli spent 34 years at Saint Joseph’s – including 24 years as the head coach – and is the program’s all-time winningest coach with 444 victories. He led the Hawks to seven Atlantic 10 tournament championships and eight NCAA Tournament appearances, and was named the NABC Division I Co-Coach of the Year in 2004. He later served as the associate head coach at Michigan from 2019 through 2024. Martelli has long been an important voice for the sport off the court, having served as a past NABC Board of Directors President and in various leadership roles with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Ethics Coalition and Coaches vs. Cancer Council.
NABC Cliff Wells Appreciation Award – Natalie Morrison, Coaches vs. Cancer senior director
Natalie Morrison has been a driving force in the growth of the Coaches vs. Cancer program that unites the NABC and the American Cancer Society in the fight against cancer. Morrison, who is set to retire in August, joined the American Cancer Society staff in 1986 and then focused her work on the Coaches vs. Cancer program starting in 2006. Under Morrison’s leadership, Coaches vs. Cancer has engaged thousands of basketball coaches – notably through the annual Suits And Sneakers Week – and raised over $179 million to support the American Cancer Society’s life-saving cancer awareness, advocacy and patient support initiatives.
NABC International Lifetime Achievement Award – John Beilein, former college and NBA head coach
John Beilein won 829 games in 41 years as a college head coach, spanning programs at the two-year college, Division III, Division II, and Division I levels. He made NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship appearances with Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia and Michigan after earlier leading Le Moyne to a Division II tournament berth. Beilein twice reached the national title game at Michigan while becoming the winningest coach in program history, before departing in 2019 for a stint as head coach of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
