Scoonie Penn’s decision to follow his coach from Boston College to Ohio State paid off Monday.Penn was voted Big Ten Player of the Year and coach Jim O’Brien was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year.”It’s a really nice honor especially in this conference,” O’Brien said. “I think the quality of coaching in this league is the best in the country.”O’Brien gave credit to his coaching staff and his players. “You didn’t see my name mentioned for coach of the year awards last year. The reason for that is that you have to win games,” O’Brien said. “The only way that happens is that your players play hard and well.”Penn split his award with Michigan State’s Mateen Cleaves, who won the award last season. Penn won over the media’s vote while the Big Ten coaches favored Cleaves.”I just want to thank my teammates,” Penn said. “Those guys may not get all of the publicity, but without those guys, I wouldn’t have gotten this award.”Penn had come on late in the season to capture the award. He won two straight Big Ten Player of the Week awards in late February, part of a career-high 27 point performance at Iowa to help the Buckeyes to a 73-69 victory.Penn said that while he thought he may have played well enough to earn the award, he was doubtful of what the outcome of the voting would be.”I really didn’t know what to think,” he said. Penn has also won such awards in the past. He was Big East Freshman of the Year in 1996.O’Brien said Buckeye fans played a key role in helping he and Penn earn their awards.”Coming into this season there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not the Schott would be as much of an advantage as St. John (Arena) was and whether people would come to see a team that was not very successful the last couple of years,” O’Brien said. “But our people have come out in droves to support us and I think that they should share this.”