Philadelphia Big 5 Releases 2025-26 Awards

The Philadelphia Big 5 announced their 2025-26 men’s awards list, with head coaches from each of the six member schools voting for the top performers from last season.

Saint Joseph’s head coach Steve Donahue won coach of the year honors after taking over on Hawk Hill in early September and leading his team to the A-10 semifinals; Villanova guard Acaden Lewis earned freshman of the year honors after averaging 12.2 points and 5.3 assists per game. The All-Big 5 First Team consisted of Drexel guard Shane Blakeney (14.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG) Villanova forward Duke Brennan (12.4 PPG, 10.3 RPG), Temple guard Derrian Ford (18.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG), Villanova guard Tyler Perkins (13.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG), Penn forward TJ Power (16.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG) and Saint Joseph’s guard Derek Simpson (13.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 5.2 APG).

Simpson also earned player of the year honors and led the league with a 91.7 percent success rate from the charity stripe.

Rob Dockery (La Salle), Jaiden Glover-Toscano (Saint Joseph’s), Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay (Villanova), Ethan Roberts (Penn) and Aiden Tobiason (Temple) made up the All-Big 5 Second Team.