The National Lacrosse League's award for coach of the year certainly deserves its name as the Les Bartley Award.

In winning the award for 2006, Portland LumberJax head coach Derek Keenan became the fourth consecutive recipient to have played for the legendary Bartley, who won seven championships in twelve seasons.

2005   Bob Hamley
       Arizona Sting
2004   Paul Day
       Rochester K'Hawks
2003   Darris Kilgour
       Buffalo Bandits
2002   Bob McMahon
       Albany Attack
2001   Tony Resch
       Philadelphia Wings

Keenan, the only one of the four to also coach under Bartley, guided the LumberJax to an 11-5 record and the Western Division title. No first-year club had ever before won a division crown.

In mid-March, Portland was 5-5 and tied for third place in a tight division race, but then ran off six straight victories to end the regular season.

However, the LumberJax were upset by Arizona in the first round of the playoffs.

Before joining the LumberJax, Keenan coached many of his current players in Anaheim, where he guided the Storm to a 5-11 record in 2005.

Prior to that, Keenan was an assistant coach in Toronto, winning four championships, and had the unenviable task of taking over as the Rock's general manager in 2004 when Bartley stepped aside to fight cancer (a battle he lost one year ago).

The NLL will continue its daily award announcements tomorrow with the selection of the General Manager of the Year, an award for which Keenan also should receive serious consideration.