by Alan Babbitt

Hope College's Brian Morehouse has been named the D3hoops.com Great Lakes Region Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.

This season, Morehouse led the Flying Dutch to back-to-back undefeated seasons with a 16-0 record as well as the 19th MIAA regular-season title and 16th MIAA Tournament championship in team history.

Hope also extended its active winning streak to an NCAA Division III-leading 45 games. It is the eighth-longest streak in NCAA Division III history.

Assistant coach Courtney Kust praised Morehouse for his leadership during a challenging season.

"To see the way Coach Mo led our program this season was incredibly inspiring. He took the heartbreak of 18-to-22-year-old women who went yet another year without a national tournament and channeled it into great energy," said Kust, who's also an assistant director of athletics. "It resulted in a team that genuinely loved each other and played for each other every chance they were able to step onto the court. 

"People always say how great Coach Mo is at the Xs and Os, but I was also really impressed this year with his leadership off the court and the way he rallied our team in the midst of a lot of adversity." 

Morehouse was named the D3hoops National Coach of the Year for the 2019-20 season.

In 25 seasons, Morehouse has a career record of 627-90 at his alma mater for an .874 winning percentage that ranks among the elite in Division III women's basketball.