Former Northwest Missouri State Head Coach Mel Tjeerdsma to Receive 2022 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award
November 23, 2021
Former Austin College and Northwest Missouri State University head coach Mel Tjeerdsma will receive the AFCA’s 2022 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. The award is given to those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests in football,” and will be presented during the 2022 AFCA Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
In 27 years as a head coach, Tjeerdsma stocked up an outstanding record of 242-82-4. His 242 wins is 10th all-time among Division II head coaches and he boasts a 74.4 winning percentage. Tjeerdsma’s coaching career began at Sioux Center (Iowa) High School. In 1972, he won the first Class 2A State football championship. Tjeerdsma earned Northwest Iowa Football Coach of the Year honors that season. In 1976, Tjeerdsma took his coaching to the next level and became offensive coordinator at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. While at Northwestern (Iowa), the team had four trips to the NAIA Division II Playoffs and won a national championship in 1983.
RELATED ARTICLE: Former Delaware State, Johnson C. Smith and Howard Head Coach Edward Jackson Selected as the 2021 AFCA Trailblazer Award Recipient
From 1984 to 1993, Tjeerdsma was the head coach for Austin College. He compiled a record of 59–39–4 to become the winningest coach in program history. He took the team to three Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships in 1984, 1985 and 1988, and made two trips to the NAIA Division II playoffs.
Tjeerdsma moved on to Northwest Missouri State in 1994. In just three years, Tjeerdsma took the program from 0-11 to 11-2, making their first playoff appearance since 1984. Two years after that playoff appearance, he guided the Bearcats to a 15-0 record and the 1998 NCAA Division II National Championship. It was the first national title ever won by the Bearcats in any sport. Northwest Missouri State would add a second straight title in 1999 and would go on to play in five more national championship games, winning a third title in 2009. Tjeerdsma won 183 games at Northwest Missouri State, marking the second time in his career he would become the all-time wins leader for a program. In 2007, the field at Bearcat Stadium was named Mel Tjeerdsma Field in the coach’s honor. He retired from coaching after the 2010 season.
Tjeerdsma was named AFCA Division II Coach of the Year four times (1998, 1999, 2008, 2009) and was a seven-time AFCA Regional Coach of the Year winner. In 2011, he led the United States national team to a title in the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) World Cup. Tjeerdsma returned to Austin College after retiring from coaching and worked in the Institutional Advancement Division. In 2013, he became athletic director at Northwest Missouri State University, a post he would hold for five years.
A dedicated member of the AFCA, Tjeerdsma worked and chaired on many committees. He served on the AFCA Board of Trustees for eight years, culminating as president of the association in 2006. Tjeerdsma is a member of the NCAA Division II Football, Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, State of Missouri Sports, State of South Dakota Sports and Northwest Missouri State’s M-Club halls of fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
The Award
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is given to the “individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football.” Its purpose is “to perpetuate the example and influence of Amos Alonzo Stagg.”
The award is named in honor of a man who was instrumental in founding the AFCA in the 1920s. He is considered one of the great innovators and motivating forces in the early development of the game of football. The plaque given to each recipient is a replica of the one given to Stagg at the 1939 AFCA Convention in tribute to his 50 years of service to football.
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg began his coaching career at the School of Christian Workers, now Springfield (Mass.) College, after graduating from Yale University in 1888.
Stagg also served as head coach at Chicago (1892-1932) and College of the Pacific (1933-1946). His 41 seasons at Chicago is one of the longest head coaching tenures in the history of the college game.
Among the innovations credited to Stagg are the tackling dummy, the huddle, the reverse play, man in motion, knit pants, numbering plays and players, and the awarding of letters.
A long-time AFCA member, Stagg was the Association’s 1943 Coach of the Year.
According to NCAA records, Stagg’s 57-year record as a college head coach is 314-199-35. He was 84 years old when he ended his coaching career at Pacific in 1946. He died in 1965 at the age of 103.
Past Amos Alonzo Stagg Award Winners:
1940 Donald Herring, Jr., (Princeton player) and family
1941 William H. Cowell (posthumously), New Hampshire
1946 Grantland Rice, sportswriter
1947 William A. Alexander, Georgia Tech
1948 Gilmour Dobie, North Dakota State, Washington, Navy, Cornell, Boston College
Glenn S. “Pop” Warner, Georgia, Cornell, Carlisle, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Temple
Robert C. Zuppke, Illinois
1949 Richard C. Harlow, Penn State, Colgate, Western Maryland, Harvard
1950 No award given
1951 DeOrmond “Tuss” McLaughry, Westminster, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth
1952 A.N. “Bo” McMillin, Indiana
1953 Lou Little, Georgetown, Columbia
1954 Dana X. Bible, Mississippi College, LSU, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas
1955 Joseph J. Tomlin, founder, Pop Warner Football
1956 No award given
1957 Gen. Robert R. Neyland, Tennessee
1958 Bernie Bierman, Mississippi A&M, Tulane, Minnesota
1959 Dr. John W. Wilce, Ohio State
1960 Harvey J. Harman, Haverford, University of the South, Pennsylvania, Rutgers
1961 Ray Eliot, Illinois
1962 E.E. “Tad” Wieman, Michigan, Princeton, Maine
1963 Andrew Kerr, Stanford, Washington & Jefferson, Colgate, Lebanon Valley
1964 Don Faurot, Missouri
1965 Harry Stuhldreher, Wisconsin
1966 Bernie H. Moore, LSU
1967 Jess Neely, Southwestern, Clemson, Rice
1968 Abe Martin, TCU
1969 Charles A. “Rip” Engle, Brown, Penn State
1970 Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf, Syracuse, Oklahoma City, Kansas, Oklahoma A&M, Kansas State, Northwestern, California
1971 Bill Murray, Delaware, Duke
1972 Jack Curtice, Stanford
1973 Lloyd Jordan, Amherst, Harvard
1974 Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither, Florida A&M
1975 Gerald B. Zornow, business executive
1976 No award given
1977 Floyd “Ben” Schwartzwalder, Muhlenberg, Syracuse
1978 Tom Hamilton, Navy, Pittsburgh
1979 H.O. “Fritz” Crisler, Minnesota, Princeton, Michigan
1980 No award given
1981 Fred Russell, sportswriter
1982 Eddie Robinson, Grambling
1983 Paul W. “Bear” Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama
1984 Charles B. “Bud” Wilkinson, Oklahoma
1985 Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State
1986 Woody Hayes, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State
1987 Field Scovell, Cotton Bowl
1988 G. Herbert McCracken, Allegheny, Lafayette
1989 David Nelson, Delaware
1990 Len Casanova, Oregon
1991 Bob Blackman, Denver, Dartmouth, Illinois, Cornell
1992 Charles McClendon, LSU
1993 Keith Jackson, ABC-TV
1994 Bob Devaney, Nebraska, Wyoming
1995 John Merritt, Jackson State, Tennessee State
1996 Chuck Neinas, College Football Association
1997 Ara Parseghian, Miami (Ohio), Northwestern, Notre Dame
1998 Bob Reade, Augustana (Ill.)
1999 Bo Schembechler, Miami (Ohio), Michigan
2000 Tom Osborne, Nebraska
2001 Vince Dooley, Georgia
2002 Joe Paterno, Penn State
2003 LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young
2004 Ron Schipper, Central (Iowa)
2005 Hayden Fry, North Texas, SMU, Iowa
2006 Grant Teaff, McMurry, Angelo State, Baylor
2007 Bill Curry, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky
2008 Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers, Stanford
2009 John Gagliardi, Carroll (Mont.), St. John’s (Minn.)
2010 Darrell Royal, Mississippi State, Washington, Texas
2011 Bobby Bowden, Samford, West Virginia, Florida State
2012 Fisher DeBerry, Air Force
2013 Frosty Westering, Parsons, Lea College, Pacific Lutheran
2014 R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M
2015 Ken Hatfield, Air Force, Arkansas, Clemson, Rice
2016 John Cooper, Tulsa, Arizona State, Ohio State
2017 Don Nehlen, Bowling Green, West Virginia
2018 Frank Broyles, Missouri, Arkansas
2019 Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills
2020 Dick Tomey, Arizona, Hawaii, San Jose State
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
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Former Austin College and Northwest Missouri State University head coach Mel Tjeerdsma will receive the AFCA’s 2022 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. The award is given to those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests in football,” and will be presented during the 2022 AFCA Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
In 27 years as a head coach, Tjeerdsma stocked up an outstanding record of 242-82-4. His 242 wins is 10th all-time among Division II head coaches and he boasts a 74.4 winning percentage. Tjeerdsma’s coaching career began at Sioux Center (Iowa) High School. In 1972, he won the first Class 2A State football championship. Tjeerdsma earned Northwest Iowa Football Coach of the Year honors that season. In 1976, Tjeerdsma took his coaching to the next level and became offensive coordinator at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. While at Northwestern (Iowa), the team had four trips to the NAIA Division II Playoffs and won a national championship in 1983.
RELATED ARTICLE: Former Delaware State, Johnson C. Smith and Howard Head Coach Edward Jackson Selected as the 2021 AFCA Trailblazer Award Recipient
From 1984 to 1993, Tjeerdsma was the head coach for Austin College. He compiled a record of 59–39–4 to become the winningest coach in program history. He took the team to three Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships in 1984, 1985 and 1988, and made two trips to the NAIA Division II playoffs.
Tjeerdsma moved on to Northwest Missouri State in 1994. In just three years, Tjeerdsma took the program from 0-11 to 11-2, making their first playoff appearance since 1984. Two years after that playoff appearance, he guided the Bearcats to a 15-0 record and the 1998 NCAA Division II National Championship. It was the first national title ever won by the Bearcats in any sport. Northwest Missouri State would add a second straight title in 1999 and would go on to play in five more national championship games, winning a third title in 2009. Tjeerdsma won 183 games at Northwest Missouri State, marking the second time in his career he would become the all-time wins leader for a program. In 2007, the field at Bearcat Stadium was named Mel Tjeerdsma Field in the coach’s honor. He retired from coaching after the 2010 season.
Tjeerdsma was named AFCA Division II Coach of the Year four times (1998, 1999, 2008, 2009) and was a seven-time AFCA Regional Coach of the Year winner. In 2011, he led the United States national team to a title in the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) World Cup. Tjeerdsma returned to Austin College after retiring from coaching and worked in the Institutional Advancement Division. In 2013, he became athletic director at Northwest Missouri State University, a post he would hold for five years.
A dedicated member of the AFCA, Tjeerdsma worked and chaired on many committees. He served on the AFCA Board of Trustees for eight years, culminating as president of the association in 2006. Tjeerdsma is a member of the NCAA Division II Football, Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, State of Missouri Sports, State of South Dakota Sports and Northwest Missouri State’s M-Club halls of fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
The Award
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is given to the “individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football.” Its purpose is “to perpetuate the example and influence of Amos Alonzo Stagg.”
The award is named in honor of a man who was instrumental in founding the AFCA in the 1920s. He is considered one of the great innovators and motivating forces in the early development of the game of football. The plaque given to each recipient is a replica of the one given to Stagg at the 1939 AFCA Convention in tribute to his 50 years of service to football.
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg began his coaching career at the School of Christian Workers, now Springfield (Mass.) College, after graduating from Yale University in 1888.
Stagg also served as head coach at Chicago (1892-1932) and College of the Pacific (1933-1946). His 41 seasons at Chicago is one of the longest head coaching tenures in the history of the college game.
Among the innovations credited to Stagg are the tackling dummy, the huddle, the reverse play, man in motion, knit pants, numbering plays and players, and the awarding of letters.
A long-time AFCA member, Stagg was the Association’s 1943 Coach of the Year.
According to NCAA records, Stagg’s 57-year record as a college head coach is 314-199-35. He was 84 years old when he ended his coaching career at Pacific in 1946. He died in 1965 at the age of 103.
Past Amos Alonzo Stagg Award Winners:
1940 Donald Herring, Jr., (Princeton player) and family
1941 William H. Cowell (posthumously), New Hampshire
1946 Grantland Rice, sportswriter
1947 William A. Alexander, Georgia Tech
1948 Gilmour Dobie, North Dakota State, Washington, Navy, Cornell, Boston College
Glenn S. “Pop” Warner, Georgia, Cornell, Carlisle, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Temple
Robert C. Zuppke, Illinois
1949 Richard C. Harlow, Penn State, Colgate, Western Maryland, Harvard
1950 No award given
1951 DeOrmond “Tuss” McLaughry, Westminster, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth
1952 A.N. “Bo” McMillin, Indiana
1953 Lou Little, Georgetown, Columbia
1954 Dana X. Bible, Mississippi College, LSU, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas
1955 Joseph J. Tomlin, founder, Pop Warner Football
1956 No award given
1957 Gen. Robert R. Neyland, Tennessee
1958 Bernie Bierman, Mississippi A&M, Tulane, Minnesota
1959 Dr. John W. Wilce, Ohio State
1960 Harvey J. Harman, Haverford, University of the South, Pennsylvania, Rutgers
1961 Ray Eliot, Illinois
1962 E.E. “Tad” Wieman, Michigan, Princeton, Maine
1963 Andrew Kerr, Stanford, Washington & Jefferson, Colgate, Lebanon Valley
1964 Don Faurot, Missouri
1965 Harry Stuhldreher, Wisconsin
1966 Bernie H. Moore, LSU
1967 Jess Neely, Southwestern, Clemson, Rice
1968 Abe Martin, TCU
1969 Charles A. “Rip” Engle, Brown, Penn State
1970 Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf, Syracuse, Oklahoma City, Kansas, Oklahoma A&M, Kansas State, Northwestern, California
1971 Bill Murray, Delaware, Duke
1972 Jack Curtice, Stanford
1973 Lloyd Jordan, Amherst, Harvard
1974 Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither, Florida A&M
1975 Gerald B. Zornow, business executive
1976 No award given
1977 Floyd “Ben” Schwartzwalder, Muhlenberg, Syracuse
1978 Tom Hamilton, Navy, Pittsburgh
1979 H.O. “Fritz” Crisler, Minnesota, Princeton, Michigan
1980 No award given
1981 Fred Russell, sportswriter
1982 Eddie Robinson, Grambling
1983 Paul W. “Bear” Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama
1984 Charles B. “Bud” Wilkinson, Oklahoma
1985 Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State
1986 Woody Hayes, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State
1987 Field Scovell, Cotton Bowl
1988 G. Herbert McCracken, Allegheny, Lafayette
1989 David Nelson, Delaware
1990 Len Casanova, Oregon
1991 Bob Blackman, Denver, Dartmouth, Illinois, Cornell
1992 Charles McClendon, LSU
1993 Keith Jackson, ABC-TV
1994 Bob Devaney, Nebraska, Wyoming
1995 John Merritt, Jackson State, Tennessee State
1996 Chuck Neinas, College Football Association
1997 Ara Parseghian, Miami (Ohio), Northwestern, Notre Dame
1998 Bob Reade, Augustana (Ill.)
1999 Bo Schembechler, Miami (Ohio), Michigan
2000 Tom Osborne, Nebraska
2001 Vince Dooley, Georgia
2002 Joe Paterno, Penn State
2003 LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young
2004 Ron Schipper, Central (Iowa)
2005 Hayden Fry, North Texas, SMU, Iowa
2006 Grant Teaff, McMurry, Angelo State, Baylor
2007 Bill Curry, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky
2008 Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers, Stanford
2009 John Gagliardi, Carroll (Mont.), St. John’s (Minn.)
2010 Darrell Royal, Mississippi State, Washington, Texas
2011 Bobby Bowden, Samford, West Virginia, Florida State
2012 Fisher DeBerry, Air Force
2013 Frosty Westering, Parsons, Lea College, Pacific Lutheran
2014 R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M
2015 Ken Hatfield, Air Force, Arkansas, Clemson, Rice
2016 John Cooper, Tulsa, Arizona State, Ohio State
2017 Don Nehlen, Bowling Green, West Virginia
2018 Frank Broyles, Missouri, Arkansas
2019 Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills
2020 Dick Tomey, Arizona, Hawaii, San Jose State
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
