Bishop Miege’s Rick Zych is the 2017 Paul Lambert Award recipient

For the fourth time in his career, Bishop Miege boys basketball coach Rick Zych has been named the Paul Lambert Award recipient.

William Jewell College basketball coach Larry Holley presented Zych with the award at a school assembly on Monday.

Zych was also named The Star’s All-Metro boys basketball coach of the year and inducted into the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame this spring.

Bishop Miege, which finished 22-3, won its second consecutive boys basketball state title this March.

Zych, in his 20th year overall at Miege and third season since returning from a two-year stint at Park Hill South, managed a trio that averaged double digits in scoring and four or more rebounds each. Sophomore Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and senior Francesco Badocchi each scored 13.9 points per game, while senior Semaj Ray averaged 10.6 ppg.

No other coach has received the award more than twice. Zych previously won it in 1999, 2001 and 2010.

Lee’s Summit coach Blake Little won the Lambert Award last year.

The Paul Lambert Award is named after Paul Lambert Jr., a 1956 graduate of William Jewell College who died in a hotel fire in 1978. It is awarded to the Kansas City area’s boys basketball coach of the year. Lambert’s coaching career began at Moberly (Mo.) High School and he later coached at Drake University, Pittsburg State, Hardin-Simmons (Texas) and Southern Illinois. He had just accepted the coaching position at Auburn University at the time of his death.

This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Bishop Miege’s Rick Zych is the 2017 Paul Lambert Award recipient."