[3][4] Wooden coached the UCLA Bruins for 27 years while winning a record 10 national championships, including seven straight.

[1] Dick DiBiaso of Stanford and George Raveling of Washington State were co-winners in the award's inaugural year.

[6] Since the conference expanded to 10 teams in 1978, the winner of the award has typically qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

Marv Harshman was 19–10 with Washington in 1981–82 and fellow Huskies coach Bob Bender finished 16–12 in 1995–96 when the schools landed in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

In 1990–91, Kelvin Sampson guided Washington State to a 16–12 record and did not compete in a postseason tournament.