BOSTON (3/12/13) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball head coach Ray McCallum was named a finalist for the 2013 Ben Jobe award, which was announced on Monday.

McCallum, who is in his fifth season at the helm of the Titans, has led Detroit to its second-straight 20-win season, while also reaching the Horizon League semifinals in back-to-back years. Since McCallum has taken over, the Titans have increased their conference win total in every season (2, 9, 10, 11 and 12). Detroit has also increased its place in the regular season standings each season under McCallum (10th, 7th, T5th, T3rd and 2nd).

The Ben Jobe Award is presented annually to the top minority coach in division I men's basketball. Coach Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He has also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee and South Carolina State.

His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was Southern's 93-78 win over Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.

"Selecting a winner from this group will be difficult," said CollegeInsider.com co-founder Angela Lento. "So many coaches did exceptional things this season. Any of the 20 finalists would be deserving."

The 20 finalists include Tommy Amaker (Harvard), Mike Anderson (Arkansas), Kevin Baggett (Rider), Roman Banks (Southern), Jamion Christian (Mount St. Mary's), Mike Davis (Texas Southern), Anthony Evans (Norfolk State), Anthony Grant (Alabama), James Green (Jacksonville State), Frank Haith (Missouri), Joe Jones (Boston University), Cuonzo Martin (Tennessee), Bashir Mason (Wagner), Ray McCallum (Detroit), Marvin Menzies (New Mexico State), Howard Moore (Illinois-Chicago), LeVelle Moton (North Carolina Central), Kevin Ollie (Connecticut), Shaka Smart (VCU), John Thompson III (Georgetown).

The 2013 recipient will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in Atlanta, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.