Larry Kehres’ record 12th award and Rich Rodriguez’s second honor highlights today’s announcement of the American Football Coaches Association’s 2007 Regional Coach of the Year winners.

“What makes this award so special is that this is the only coach of the year award voted on exclusively by the coaches themselves,” AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff said. “The winners are selected by the coaches they compete with and against on a daily basis.”

The AFCA recognizes five regional Coach of the Year winners in each of the Association’s five divisions: Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III and NAIA. The winners are selected by Active members of the Association who vote for coaches in their respective regions and divisions.

The Winners: West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez and Boston College’s Jeff Jagodzinski tied for Football Bowl Subdivision Region 1 honors this year. Rodriguez led the Mountaineers to a 10-2 record, the Big East championship and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl, while Jagodzinski led the Eagles to a 10-3 record and a trip to the Champs Sports Bowl.

Mount Union’s Larry Kehres is the Division III Region 4 winner this year, the 12th time Kehres has been so honored, moving him into sole possession of first for the most District/Regional Coach of the Year Awards in AFCA history.

California’s (Pa.) John Luckhardt earned his fourth Regional Coach of the Year award, this time in Division II Region I. Luckhardt won his three previous Regional honors in 1987, 1990 and 1992 as the head coach at Washington & Jefferson.

Joining Rodriguez and Jagodzinski as winners in Football Bowl Subdivision are Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom (Region 2), Illinois’ Ron Zook (Region 3), Kansas’ Mark Mangino (Region 4) and Air Force’s Troy Calhoun (Region 5).

In Football Championship Subdivision, the winners are Richmond’s Dave Clawson and Fordham’s Tom Masella (Region 1-tie); Delaware State’s Al Lavan (Region 2); Eastern Kentucky’s Danny Hope (Region 3); Northern Iowa’s Mark Farley (Region 4) and South Dakota State’s John Stiegelmeier (Region 5).

Joining Luckhardt as winners in Division II are Catawba’s Chip Hester (Region 2); Grand Valley State’s Chuck Martin (Region 3), West Texas A&M’s Don Carthel (Region 4) and Nebraska-Omaha’s Pat Behrns and Chadron State’s Bill O’Boyle (Region 5-tie).

Joining Kehres in Division III, are Middlebury’s Bob Ritter (Region 1); Muhlenberg’s Mike Donnelly (Region 2); Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Pete Fredenburg (Region 3) and Central’s (Iowa) Jeff McMartin (Region 5).

In NAIA, the winners are Bethel’s (Tenn.) Dino Kaklis (Region 1); Ohio Dominican’s Dale Carlson (Region 2); Missouri Valley’s Paul Troth (Region 3); Sioux Falls’ Kalen DeBoer (Region 4) and Carroll’s (Mont.) Mike Van Diest (Region 5).

The 2007 Regional Coach of the Year winners will be recognized at the AFCA Coach of the Year Dinner at the 2008 AFCA Convention in Anaheim, California. The dinner is scheduled for January 9.

AFCA National Coach of the Year: The AFCA will announce its five 2007 National Coach of the Year winners at the 2008 AFCA Convention in Anaheim. All head coaches who were eligible for regional honors are eligible for national honors as well.

2007 AFCA Regional Coach of the Year Winners

Football Bowl Subdivision
Region 1: Jeff Jagodzinski, Boston College;
Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia University (tie)
Region 2: Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State University
Region 3: Ron Zook, University of Illinois
Region 4: Mark Mangino, University of Kansas
Region 5: Troy Calhoun, U.S. Air Force Academy

Football Championship Subdivision
Region 1: Dave Clawson, University of Richmond;
Tom Masella, Fordham University (tie)
Region 2: Al Lavan, Delaware State University
Region 3: Danny Hope, Eastern Kentucky University
Region 4: Mark Farley, University of Northern Iowa
Region 5: John Stiegelmeier, South Dakota State University

Division II
Region 1: John Luckhardt, California University of Pennsylvania
Region 2: Chip Hester, Catawba College
Region 3: Chuck Martin, Grand Valley State University
Region 4: Don Carthel, West Texas A&M University
Region 5: Pat Behrns, University of Nebraska-Omaha;
Bill O’Boyle, Chadron State College (tie)

Division III
Region 1: Bob Ritter, Middlebury College
Region 2: Mike Donnelly, Muhlenberg College
Region 3: Pete Fredenburg, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Region 4: Larry Kehres, Mount Union College
Region 5: Jeff McMartin, Central College (Iowa)

NAIA
Region 1: Dino Kaklis, Bethel College (Tenn.)
Region 2: Dale Carlson, Ohio Dominican University
Region 3: Paul Troth, Missouri Valley College
Region 4: Kalen DeBoer, University of Sioux Falls
Region 5: Mike Van Diest, Carroll College (Mont.)


Repeat Winners: Chadron State’s Bill O’Boyle, Mount Union’s Larry Kehres, Bethel’s (Tenn.) Dino Kaklis, Missouri Valley’s Paul Troth and Sioux Falls’ Kalen DeBoer are the only repeat winners from 2006.

Multiple Winners: Other multiple winners in the 2007 class are West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez (second), Northern Iowa’s Mark Farley (second), California’s (Pa.) John Luckhardt (fourth), Nebraska-Omaha’s Pat Behrns (second) and Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Pete Fredenburg (fourth).

First Time Schools: Seven coaches earned the first AFCA Regional Coach of the Year Award for their school in 2007: Fordham’s Tom Masella, Delaware State’s Al Lavan, West Texas A&M’s Don Carthel, Middlebury’s Bob Ritter, Muhlenberg’s Mike Donnelly, Ohio Dominican’s Dale Carlson and Carroll’s (Mont.) Mike Van Diest.

Most Awards: Mount Union’s Larry Kehres (1986-90-92-93-96-97-99-2000-01-02-06-07) has the most district/regional honors in AFCA history, earning his record 12th award this year. Penn State’s Joe Paterno (District 2: 1967-68-71-72-73-77-78-82; Region 1: 1985; Region 3: 1994-2005) is second with 11 District/Regional Coach of the Year honors. Following Kehres and Paterno is Bloomsburg’s Danny Hale, who won his ninth award in 2006 (College Division I, Region 1 1986-87-88-94-95; Division II, Region 1, 2000-01-05-06). Hale won his first three awards while at West Chester. Six coaches have won the award seven times: Jim Butterfield, Ithaca; Carmen Cozza, Yale; Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne, Nebraska; Tubby Raymond, Delaware and Bo Schembechler, Miami (Ohio), Michigan.

Most Winners by School: Nebraska-15 (Bob Devaney-7, Tom Osborne-7, Frank Solich-1); Mount Union-13 (Ken Wable-1, Larry Kehres-12); Penn State-12 (Rip Engle-1, Joe Paterno-11); North Dakota State-10 (Darrell Mudra-1, Ron Erhardt-4, Jim Wacker-1, Don Morton-3, Earle Solomonson-1); Southern California-10 (John McKay-6, John Robinson-2, Pete Carroll-2); Texas-10 (Darrell Royal-6, Fred Akers-2, David McWilliams-1, Mack Brown-1); Wittenberg-9 (Bill Edwards-3, Dave Maurer-4, Ron Murphy-1, Joe Fincham-1); Michigan-8 (Bump Elliott-2, Bo Schembechler-6); Alabama-8 (Bear Bryant-4, Bill Curry-1, Gene Stallings-2, Mike Shula-1), Oklahoma-8 (Chuck Fairbanks-3, Barry Switzer-2, Bob Stoops-3); Yale-8 (Jordan Olivar-1, Carmen Cozza-7).

Two Years, Two Schools: Five coaches have earned AFCA Regional Coach of the Year honors at two schools in consecutive years: Fred Akers: Wyoming, 1976 & Texas 1977; Dick Sheridan: Furman, 1985 & North Carolina State, 1986; Dennis Franchione: Pittsburg State, 1989 & Southwest Texas State, 1990; Joe Tiller: Wyoming, 1996 & Purdue, 1997; Hal Mumme: Valdosta State, 1996 & Kentucky, 1997.

Most Schools: South Carolina’s Lou Holtz is the only coach to earn AFCA Regional Coach of the Year honors at four different schools. Holtz has earned the honor at North Carolina State (1972), Arkansas (1979), Notre Dame (1988) and South Carolina (2000). Mike Price (UTEP, Washington State, Weber State) became the fifth coach to win district or regional honors at three different schools in 2004. He joins Jerry Claiborne (Virginia Tech, Maryland, Kentucky), Darrell Mudra (North Dakota State, Western Illinois, Northern Iowa), Jim Sweeney (Montana State, Washington State and Fresno State) and Jim Wacker (North Dakota State, Southwest Texas State and TCU) on that list.

Consecutive Years: Northwest Missouri State’s Mel Tjeerdsma and Nebraska’s Bob Devaney are the only coaches to win district/regional honors in five consecutive years. Tjeerdsma earned the honor in Division II from 1996-2000. Devaney earned the honor in the AFCA’s old University Division (1962-63-64-65-66). Trinity (Texas)’s Steve Mohr, North Dakota State’s Ron Erhardt and Mount Union’s Larry Kehres are the only men to win the award four years in a row. Erhardt earned district honors in the AFCA’s old College Division (1967-68-69-70) while Mohr earned the honor in Division III (1996-97-98-99). Kehres earned the honor in 1999-2000-01-02. Thirteen coaches have earned district or regional honors three years in a row. One of the 13, former Ithaca College coach Jim Butterfield, earned the award in three consecutive years on two different occasions (1978-79-80 and 1984-85-86).

Award History
The AFCA began recognizing district coaches of the year following the 1960 season. The awards were established the same year Eastman Kodak agreed to sponsor the AFCA Coach of the Year award. Prior to 1960, the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain had sponsored the program, which recognized one national Coach of the Year.

The AFCA first recognized eight district winners in each of two divisions: university and college. In 1972, a ninth district was added in each division.
In 1983, the award was changed to recognize regional winners instead of district winners, and the number of divisions was increased from two to four, and five regional winners were selected in each division. This resulted in a more equitable selection process and better represented the make-up of the membership. At the same time, the new system increased the number of honorees from 18 to 20.

In 2006, the AFCA Division II Award was split into separate Division II and NAIA divisions, giving us the 25 winners we now recognize.

AFCA National Coach of the Year Winners to Earn Rewards for Their Assistants
The full-time assistants at the five schools represented by the AFCA National Coach of the Year winners will each receive a $1,000 grant from the American Football Coaches Foundation to assist in the education or professional development of each assistant.