Steve Payne, men's basketball associate head coach, has been honored by yet another outside organization as the Ohio Valley Conference's Coach of the Year.

CBS SportsLine.com is the latest group to tap Payne for the role he's played in assisting with the overall direction of the Golden Eagle basketball program during the 2005-06 season while head coach Mike Sutton was recovering from Guillian-Barre Syndrome, which struck him in April 2005.

Payne played a significant part in Tennessee Tech's 19-12 overall record and 13-7 mark in conference games. The Golden Eagles finished third in the OVC
and advanced to the conference tournament semi-finals in Nashville.

Payne arrived at Tennessee Tech in 2002 and is now in his fourth season as the top assistant on Sutton's staff. Previously, he served as the head coach at
Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, after serving a four-year stint as an
assistant coach under Happy Osboerne at NAIA powerhouse Georgetown (Ky.)
College. He has also spent time as an assistant coach at Northwestern State,
Union University and Knox Central High School.

Earlier this month, Payne was recognized by CollegeInsider.com as OVC Coach of the Year as well as one of 15 finalists for the 2006 Hugh Durham Award, which names the mid-major Coach of the Year.