Auriemma, Martelli headline Joe Lapchick Character Award winners

NEW YORK — Geno Auriemma and Phil Martelli headline this year’s recipients of the Joe Lapchick Character Award.

Joining the two coaches will be longtime men’s basketball official Gene Steratore and former Fordham athletic director Frank McLaughlin.

Auriemma is the winningest coach in women’s basketball history, leading UConn to 11 national championships, and has won an NCAA-record 1,239 games in his 40 years at the school. Off the court, the Huskies boast a perfect 100% graduation rate among his four-year players.

The Hall of Fame coach has a long-standing bond with Martelli back to when Auriemma was an assistant coach for him at Bishop Kenrick High School. Martelli recommended Auriemma for an assistant position at Virginia with Debbie Ryan, a job he held before getting the UConn position in 1986.

Martelli led Saint Joseph’s for 24 seasons as the head coach, guiding the Hawks to seven NCAA tournament appearances. His 2004 team made the Elite Eight after going undefeated in the regular season. Martelli’s squad lost in the conference tournament to Xavier and then was beaten by Oklahoma State in the East Regional Final. He was the AP Coach of the Year that season and won 444 games in his career.

Steratore was a Division I men’s basketball official from 1997-2018, working in the Big East, Big Ten and Atlantic 10 conferences. He also worked two Sweet 16 games in the NCAA tournament. Steratore has been on CBS broadcasts during March Madness providing rule explanations. It’s a role he has also done in the NFL. Steratore was an NFL official for 15 seasons.

McLaughlin served as Fordham’s athletic director from 1985-2012 before being promoted to the role of associate vice president of student affairs for athletic alumni relations and external affairs/athletic director emeritus. He retired in 2023.

Before becoming an AD, McLaughlin was a college coach, leading the Harvard men’s basketball team from 1977-85. The team went 15-9 in his final year there.

This is the 17th year the award will be presented to those who have shown the character traits of Lapchick, who coached at St. John’s and with the New York Knicks. The quartet will be honored at a luncheon on Sept. 19 in New York.