Mark Byington Among List of Coaches to be Named on Award Watch List

The Vanderbilt coach has turned Vanderbilt men’s basketball around in just two seasons.

Feb 7, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Mark Byington watches his team against the Oklahoma Sooners during the first half at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Vanderbilt men’s basketball head coach Mark Byington is one of the few coaches that could win a prestigious coaching award. Per a post from Vanderbilt men’s basketball’s Twitter account, Byington is on the Naismith College Coach of the Year Watch List.

In two seasons, Byington has turned a 9-23 Vanderbilt team in 2023-2024 to a 20-13 team that made the NCAA Tournament in his first season in Nashville into a Commodores team this season that is 21-5 and could set the program record for the most wins in a season if things play out the right way.

Byington took Vanderbilt to the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season as a No. 10-seed, where the Commodores lost to the Saint Mary’s in the Round of 64. But this season, the jump Vanderbilt has made from year one to year two under Byington has been one of the better stories in college basketball this season.

Byington is one of 15 coaches to have made the midseason watch list and is the first Vanderbilt coach to lead his team to 20 wins or more in each of his first two seasons.

The Commodores have gotten it done on both ends of the floor. Vanderbilt has one of the best offensively efficient teams in the country, according to KenPom. The offensive system Byington implemented of playing fast, getting into transition and finding shooters has worked well in what has been another competitive year in the SEC.

On the defensive end, Vanderbilt’s defense runs through its guards Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles. Both Tanner and Miles have had a knack for applying pressure in the half court to opposing guards and forcing turnovers and creating offense off of it. Vanderbilt is ranked 19th in the country in defensive efficiency in KenPom.

“Mark’s done a great job ever since he’s been at Vandy. I’ve watched him put together his first team, then his second team. He knows what he’s looking for. He’s got a system and he believes in it,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said of Byington ahead of this weekend’s Vanderbilt-Tennessee game.

One of the other impressive things Byington has done is how he has coached in the absence of two of his players. Vanderbilt guard Frankie Collins has been out since mid-December while Duke Miles has been out the past three weeks.

With both Collins and Miles out the last six games, Vanderbilt has gone 4-2 in conference play. However, the Commodores are coming off a loss to Missouri Wednesday night. Vanderbilt takes on Tennessee Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT in a game that is sure to have SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament seeding ramifications.