The National Lacrosse League today named Rochester Knighthawks coach Paul Day as the first recipient of the Les Bartley Award as the league's coach of the year.

The NLL has handed out a Coach of the Year Award annually since 2001, but this is the first one since the league's Board of Governors voted to rename the trophy for Bartley, who stepped down as Toronto Rock coach last fall while battling colon cancer.

2003   Darris Kilgour
       Buffalo
2002   Bob McMahon
       Albany
2001   Tony Resch
       Philadelphia

Day admirably skippered the Knighthawks to an 8-8 record and a home playoff game this season, despite losing franchise player John Grant and defensive leader Marshall Abrams to season-ending injuries in January.

Rochester won three of its last four games to muscle into the Eastern Division playoffs, extending its postseason streak to ten seasons, and ultimately snuck past the Buffalo Bandits for the right to host the Eastern semifinal.

The Knighthawks lost that game, however, 13-9.

"It is a great award to get from your peers, but this definitely goes to the whole coaching staff. Tommy [Cincebox], Eddy [Comeau] and Johnny [Monroe] did a great job this season, as well as our scout Jim Milligan," Day said.

"It also shows you the character of the guys on our team, battling through all the injuries we had this season."

Day has coached the Knighthawks for the past seven seasons, compiling a 69-40 overall record. He has led Rochester to the championship game three times (1999, 2000, 2003), but his only NLL title game as a coach came in 1997, when he served as Barry Powless' assistant with the Knighthawks.