OKLAHOMA CITY – After winning the HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week back on Jan. 21 after leading the No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team to a pair of NAIA Top 25 victories, Gamblin was announced as one of the 16 nominees for the HoopDirt.com NAIA Coach of the Year presented by Just Play Solutions on Tuesday.

In his fifth season, Gambln led the Evangels to a 30-2 overall record to finish tied with Georgetown (Ky.) for the best record in the NAIA. Gamblin also led MACU to a 19-1 Sooner Athletic Conference league mark as the Evangels won their second Sooner Athletic Conference regular season title.

For the first time in program history, Mid-America Christian was selected as a No. 1 seed to compete in the NAIA National Championships before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The 30 wins is the most by any MACU program during the NAIA era, surpassing the 28-win 2015-16 campaign that culminated in the Evangels winning the NAIA National Championship. MACU also opened the season by winning 20 consecutive games, not only breaking the program's NAIA era win streak record, but also establishing the longest winning streak since the program won 19 in a row before winning the 2004 NCCAA Division II National Championship.

HoopDirt.com will announce the NAIA Coach of the Year next week.