MARQUETTE — It’s been said that winning a coaching award once is nice, but winning it back-to-back proves you’re doing something right.

Marquette head coach Eric Mason proved that Wednesday when, for the second straight season, he shared the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Large School Coach of the Year award after guiding the Redmen to their first playoff win in a decade as well as an upset of Mount Pleasant in the second round. This time, he shared it with Sault Ste. Marie’s Scott Menard.

Mason was grateful for the award and emphasized that he earned it with the help of the fellow coaches on his staff.

“You know what truly, I truly would love it to be a staff of the year because it’s difficult,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy those things obviously, but … with coaches, you’ve got so many of them and they’re so influential and they put so much into it that saying one name is just a difficult thing sometimes.

“I have a great coaching staff. I think I have the best coaching staff and I’m sure a lot think that, but I truly believe that I have the best coaching staff.”

Mason wasn’t the only area coach to pick up an award as Gwinn’s Ben Olsen shared the Small School award after leading the Modeltowners to their first playoff victory in 21 years.

Olsen was both surprised and appreciative of the award, crediting what he learned from former head coach Dion Brown before he tragically passed away during the previous off-season. He shared the award with Iron Mountain’s Robin Marttila.

“It means a lot, not so much for me, but to kind of continue the legacy that Coach Brown was trying to build, and … I’m not really sure how that all works, but I feel, at least it was seen that we’re still going in the positive and in the right direction,” Olsen said.

“He meant so much to me as a person, as a coach, as a friend, so I guess I owe a lot of my football knowledge and where I am football-wise to him….

“So I guess I owe a lot to Dion Brown more than anything. It feels good to me to know that we were able to do, as a coaching staff in Gwinn, that we were able to continue what Coach Brown kind of set out to do.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.