Missouri State head baseball coach Keith Guttin has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year in a vote of the league’s coaches, sports information directors and media representatives, it was announced at the MVC Tournament banquet Tuesday evening in Wichita, Kan.

Guttin, along with veteran assistants Paul Evans and Brent Thomas, volunteer Jamie Sheetz and student assistant Tanner Mattson, engineered the largest win improvement in conference play in the country this season, leading the Bears to an 18-6 record and 11-win jump from 2007. MSU made it through the conference season with series victories in seven of eight weekends and owns at least one win against each league school.

Missouri State finished second in the MVC by one game and enters this week’s league tournament as the No. 2 seed with a 38-15 overall record. The Bears’ 18 league wins are the most since the MVC switched to a 24-game format in 2005, and their .750 conference winning percentage is the highest since joining the MVC in 1991.