Urban Meyer Selected As Finalist For Eddie Robinson Award
Thursday, December 11, 2008 | Football
University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer was announced on Thursday as one of the nine finalists for the 2008 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award by the Football Writers Association of America, an honor that will be voted upon by the organization's entire membership.
With the 2008 regular season completed, the FWAA, in conjunction with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, has tabbed the following finalists in addition to Meyer: Texas' Mack Brown, USC's Pete Carroll, Texas Tech's Mike Leach, Penn State's Joe Paterno, Boise State's Chris Petersen, Alabama's Nick Saban, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Utah's Kyle Whittingham. The finalists will be placed on a ballot which will be sent to the entire FWAA membership.
Two of the finalists, Petersen and Whittingham, have directed their teams to unbeaten regular seasons, while seven of the nine coaches have led their teams to Bowl Championship Series games.
Of the nine finalists, four have previously been named the FWAA's National Coach of the Year, led by Paterno, who has been honored by the FWAA three times (1978, '82 and '86). He has been a finalist on two other occasions (1997 and 2005). Meyer (2004), Saban (2003) and Stoops (2000) are the other previous winners. Meyer (2004 - Utah) and Saban (LSU - 2003) are each trying to become the second coach to win the honor at two different schools.
While Carroll has never won the award, he has been a finalist three times in three-consecutive years (2003-05). This also is the third time Brown has been named a finalist, the second time at Texas (2005). In 1997, he was a finalist for the award at North Carolina. Petersen is a finalist for the second time in three years, while Leach and Whittingham are the only two first-time finalists. The FWAA began naming its coaching award in honor of the late Robinson, the legendary Grambling State University coach, in 1997.
The winner of the FWAA/Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award will be announced and honored at a reception on Jan. 6 in Miami sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and presented in conjunction with the FedEx BCS National Championship Game.
The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more nearly 1,000 men and women across North America who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game day operations, major awards, a national poll and its annual All-America team.
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