2000 Broyles Award Finalists are Announced
11/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
The other 2000 finalists are: Michigan assistant head coach/running backs coach Fred Jackson, Oregon State assistant head coach/offensive line coach Gregg Smith, South Carolina defensive coordinator/defensive tackles coach Charlie Strong, and Northwestern offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kevin Wilson.
The winner will be announced Dec. 13 during a banquet at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock that will feature ESPN's Lee Corso.
The Broyles Award is named in honor of University of Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles, who developed a reputation during a stellar coaching career of producing top-notch assistant coaches. Former Broyles assistants have combined to win almost 20 percent of all Super Bowl titles, five national collegiate championships, more than 40 conference titles and more than 2,000 games. The Broyles Award is one of the most lucrative awards for college football coaches. The winner receives $5,000 and the bronze trophy worth $5,000. Each finalist receives $1,000 plus a set of Wilson golf clubs and bag. Finalists and their spouses are flown to Little Rock for the banquet.
Previous Broyles Award winners are Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews (1996), Michigan defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann (1997), former Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe (1998), who was named Ole Miss' head coach shortly before he received his award, and former Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen (1999), who was named head coach of Maryland, his alma mater, on Wednesday.
No. 13 TCU is ranked first nationally in total defense and scoring defense under Gary Patterson, 40, a rapidly rising star among college football assistants, having allowed only 245 yards per game and just 13 touchdowns during the season. The Horned Frogs have recorded a school-record 43 sacks, and opponents have averaged only 84.6 rushing and 160.6 yards passing against them. Since Patterson arrived at TCU three years ago, opponents have been held to 100 rushing yards or fewer in 18 of 35 games. This season, TCU held all 11 opponents to totals below their average in total offense. TCU will play Southern Mississippi in the Mobile Alabama Bowl.
Mark Mangino, 44, helped add a strong running game to an already potent passing machine and is one of the reasons Oklahoma is 11-0, ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls, ranked No. 1 in the Bowl Championship Series standings and looking to play in the Orange Bowl for the national championship. Under Mangino, Oklahoma has the nation's 13th-ranked offense.
Its scoring offense is ranked seventh nationally and its passing offense is ranked 10th nationally. Oklahoma averages 439.3 yards and 40.1 points a game. The Sooners have passed for 3,316 yards and have scored more than 50 points in three games and more than 60 points in one game.
Mangino's offense has numerous stars, most notably Heisman Trophy candidate Josh Heupel, who ranks fifth in the nation in total offense with an average of 313.6 yards a game. Running back Quentin Griffin is the second-leading scorer in the Big 12 and is ranked eighth in rushing, and lineman Scott Kempenich is a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy. Mangino came to Oklahoma in January of 1999 after completing his eighth and most successful season at Kansas State, the team the Sooners will play Saturday in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Charlie Strong, 40, was part of the greatest single-season turnaround in SEC history as the Gamecocks finished the regular season with a 7-4 record after finishing 0-11 in 1999. A Batesville, Ark., native and Central Arkansas graduate in his second season at South Carolina, Strong helped produce a scoring defense that ranked seventh in the nation and first in the SEC.
The Gamecocks rank first in the SEC and seventh nationally in scoring defense (15.8 points per game), rank third in the SEC in pass defense (193.0 yards per game), rank fourth in the SEC in total defense (308.2 yards per game) and rank fifth in the SEC in rushing defense (115.2 yards per game).
Despite the loss of three key offensive starters to the NFL and an injured All-American tight end candidate, Fred Jackson, 50, helped No. 16 Michigan become Big Ten co-champions behind a rushing offense that ranked 14th nationally and third in the conference. In fact, Doak Walker Award finalist Anthony Thomas, who is coached by Jackson, gained more yards (1,552) than the entire Michigan team did in 1999 (1,462).
Thomas is ranked fourth in the nation in rushing with 1,551 yards on 287 carries. The Wolverines rushing offense ranked 14th in the nation (220.2 yards per game) and its total offense was tied for 12th-best in the nation (445.5 yards per game). Both figures were third-best in the Big Ten. Jackson is in his ninth season on the Michigan staff, and fourth season as assistant head coach. His first season as assistant head coach was in 1997, when the Wolverines were national champions with a 12-0 record. Michigan, which was ranked in the top 20 in the nation all season, will attempt to win its fourth consecutive bowl when it plays either Florida or Auburn in the Citrus Bowl.
Gregg Smith, 54, helped turn No. 5 Oregon State's offensive line from the team's biggest question mark entering the season into a unit that helped the Beavers record their first 10-win season in history. Oregon State, which leads the Pacific-10 in total offense, scoring and rushing and finished conference co-champions, now has an offense line regarded as one of its strengths. The team averages 411.5 yards per game and scored an average of 32.6 points per game.
Kevin Wilson, 38, installed a new spread offense that helped turn No. 19 Northwestern into Big Ten co-champions a year after they finished last in total offense in the conference. The Wildcats were first in the conference this year and third nationally with 475.6 yards total offense per game. They scored 56 touchdowns this season after scoring just 15 in 1999. Running back Damien Anderson is the nation's second-leading rusher at 174 yards per game. Northwestern will play a yet-to-be-determined team from the Big 12 in the Alamo Bowl.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS HONOR SANDUSKY
Former Penn State defensive coordinator/linebackers
coach Jerry Sandusky, 56, who retired after the 1999 season, will be honored
with the Broyles Lifetime Achievement Award. Sandusky spent 30
years at Penn State, and the success of his linebackers earned the school
the name "Linebacker U." He coached nine first-team
All-America linebackers, most recently LaVar Arrington in 1998.
Broyles Award nominations are submitted by the 112 Division I head coaches. Every assistant that is nominated, but not selected as a finalist, receives a personalized plaque recognizing their efforts.
The finalists are chosen by a panel that may be the
most prestigious of any awards panel, one that represents eight national
championships, over 1,250 victories, 56 conference titles, 107 bowl
appearances and 12 national head coach of the year honors. Panelists
include:
Former Texas Coach Darrell Royal
Former Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler
Former Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne
Former Georgia Coach Vince Dooley
Former Washington Coach Don James
Former Syracuse Coach Dick MacPherson
Former Baylor Coach Grant Teaff
Tickets are $75 per person or $750 per table of 10 and can be purchased by calling the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce at (501) 374-2001.
