Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has been named the 2015 Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year at Tuesday night’s AFL Coaches Association awards.

In only his first year at the helm, Beveridge took the Dogs from 14th on the ladder last season, to sixth place and an elimination final.

The Dogs finished the season with 14 wins, including victories against Sydney, Richmond, Adelaide, North Melbourne and grand finalists West Coast.

Beveridge is the first Western Bulldogs coach to receive the award, since its inception in 2003.

“It’s a little bit embarrassing that ‘Clarko’ hasn’t won one yet,” Beveridge said at Tuesday night’s awards ceremony.

“It’s a huge honour and mainly because it is voted by your peers.

“It takes a bit for me to have any tension in my relationships so when I took over I tried to get the message across that it was going to be a supportive coaching tenure.

“What all our coaches and staff have done for our club this year has been great and it allows us to start 2016 on a better platform.”

Beveridge picked up 365 votes ahead of West Coast’s Adam Simpson (305) and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon (116).

Midfielder Marcus Bontempelli was named Best Young Player by the AFL Coaches earlier in the evening, chosen from the competition's first and second year players.

St Kilda’s Adam Kingsley was named assistant coach of the year, while the late Allan Jeans was posthumously anointed a coaching legend on the night.

David Wheadon received the lifetime achievement award, and Sydney’s Dan Hannebery was officially awarded the Champion Player of the Year.