Hawai'i men's basketball head coach Eran Ganot is this year's recipient of the Coaches vs. Cancer Champion Award. The honor is bestowed upon coaches who have shown extraordinary leadership and commitment in the fight against cancer, and will be presented to Ganot during the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Welcome Reception, Friday at the Final Four in Phoenix, Ariz.

Ganot is a seventh-year member of the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer Council, a group of coaches who work to increase awareness and engagement, to ensure the program helps improve the lives of cancer patients and their families. Since then, the head coach of the Rainbow Warriors has hosted an annual fundraiser for Coaches vs. Cancer in Honolulu in conjunction with the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

In the last two years alone, Ganot has helped raise more than $100,000 through his Coaches vs. Cancer events. Funds raised support the American Cancer Society's Clarence T.C. Ching Hope Lodge in Honolulu, which provides free lodging for patients from throughout the Pacific who must travel to the island of O'ahu for their cancer treatment. In 2023, Hope Lodge Hawai'i provided 8,284 nights of free lodging, saving patients approximately $1,000,000 in lodging costs and alleviating a tremendous amount of stress for families dealing with medical costs and other stressors.

The Coaches vs. Cancer program is a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the NABC that empowers coaches, their teams, and communities to join in saving more lives. Since 1993, this initiative has leveraged the personal experiences, community leadership, and professional excellence of coaches nationwide to increase cancer awareness and promote healthy living through year-round awareness efforts, fundraising activities, and advocacy programs.