EUGENE -- Dana Altman was quick to point out his so-called "deficiencies."

He sometimes gets too hung up on a play that just happened and struggles to move forward. Sometimes he gets upset and tries to overcorrect during games. Sometimes, he said, he's just prone to the occasional bout of becoming brain dead.

"I've had a lot of games I would like to do over again," the coach said.

But not many this year, which is why he's the first coach in Pac-12 history to be named coach of the year for the third time in four seasons. Announced Monday night, it's the second straight season Altman has won the award. He won it for the first time in 2012-13. Only Lute Olson and Mike Montgomery have done that.

"It's really a tribute to our team," Altman said. "I've got a great staff."

But when talking to players on Monday, it was the coach who generally deflects praise that was on the receiving end of it. Dwayne Benjamin said Altman is the reason he came to Eugene. Elgin Cook credits him for making the Ducks such a strong team in the second half.

"He puts us in great situations to win," Cook said. "It's a team effort and coach plays a big part in that."

Altman was hired by Oregon in 2010 and has won 70 percent of his games since. The Ducks have been to three straight NCAA Tournaments and will surely increase that number to four once brackets are released on Sunday. And while Altman was named coach of the year last season for leading a team with no expectations to a second-place finish in the conference, he earned it this season by piloting a team with expectations to one of the best seasons in Oregon history. The Ducks won 25 games this year, won the school's first outright Pac-12 title since 2002 and still have a chance at grasping a No. 1-seed in next week's NCAA Tournament.

"It's always about getting better for the next game. He's never satisfied," Benjamin said. "He always tells us there's something to get better at and towards the end of the year that list goes down on what you can get better at and that's why I feel like we always are playing our best as of late."

Altman will be the first to point out that postseason awards won't give the Ducks any sort of boost next week in the Pac-12 Tournament, or later on in the NCAA Tournament. Being recognized is nice, but it's not the goal of the season. But Oregon's ability to meet its goals this season are why Altman is being recognized -- something that he tried to pin back on his players.

"We're just really fortunate," he said. "We got a lot of good people working here. But most importantly, it's the players. It's not coaching if nobodies listening."

-- Tyson Alger

talger@oregonian.com

@tysonalger