Augie's Giovanine named CCIW Coach of the Year

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ROCK ISLAND — Grey Giovanine has led the Augustana College to the pot of gold again in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).

The Vikings captured its third straight outright CCIW title by rallying for a 63-59 win at North Central College in Naperville on Feb. 23. The Vikings went 11-3 in league play.

For his efforts, Giovanine, a Sheffield native, has been named as the CCIW Coach of the Year.

This weekend, Augie (22-5) captured the CCIW Tournament crown on their home floor at Carver PE Center with wins over Elmhurst 69-68 in overtime and Illinois Wesleyan 71-60.

The tournament crown keeps the Vikings, ranked sixth in this week’s D3Hoops.com Poll, home to host the NCAA Division III Tournament this week.

They will face Aurora University (22-6) at 8 p.m. Friday following the Washington-Wooster game.

With three straight CCIW crowns, Gio-vanine’s Vikings join some elite company. The last CCIW team to turn the trick was North Park from 1978-80. Future NBA star Jack Sikma led Illinois Wesleyan to a three-peat from 1975-77 and Augustana won three straight from 1972-74 under coach Jim Borcherding.

Giovanine, who played for his dad’s (Chips) Elite Eight squads at Buda Western, has directed Augustana to the best record in the CCIW this decade with a 79-31 record (.718) in league play and 152-55 (.734) overall. He has a winning record against every team in the CCIW, better than a .600 winning percent over every team except for Carthage (10-8, .556).

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