COY awards are typically passed out based on whomever happened to have the best overall record, particularly in smaller conferences, where most that vote couldn't even list out half of who the coaches even are.
For example, if this was a media award, then whomever the poor soul is that works for the Dallas Morning News, was informed he needed to place a vote, so he just went to the conference standings, saw a team with a 7-2 record, and then googled to see who the coach of that team was, and then replied back that he's voting for some guy named after a famous gunslinger.