NC State’s Dave Doeren, North Carolina’s Mack Brown and Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson have been named to the preseason watch list for the 2023 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award.
The honor is given annually and is considered the top national college football coaching honor. It is named in memory of Dodd, who coach Georgia Tech for more than two decades in the 1940s, ’50s and early ’60s.
This year’s preseason watch list includes 21 names, including Alabama’s Nick Saban, Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Florida State’s Mike Norvell. Willie Fritz of Tulane won last year’s award, managed by the Peach Bowl Inc and presented by PNC Bank.
The watch list was created through a selection process by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc., taking into consideration each program’s graduation rate, Graduation Success Rate (GSR), commitment to service and charity in the community, projected success for the 2023 season and Academic Progress Rate (APR), according to a release.
Coaches named to this year’s preseason watch list were required to have teams with an APR higher than 980. Additionally, coaches in the first year with their current teams were not included as they are ineligible to receive The Dodd Trophy until their second year with their program.
“The Dodd Trophy is the most coveted coach of the year award because it holds coaches to a higher standard of commitment beyond their team’s success on the field, but also to their involvement in the community and their student-athlete’s achievements in the classroom,” said Jim Terry, chairman of the Boddy Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “This is why we only consider coaches whose programs have earned an APR above 980, and also require coaches to have at least two years of experience leading their current programs, so that they have had time to establish a precedent, both on and off the field.”
This collective group of coaches has won 10 National Championships, 41 FBS conference titles and secured 2,070 career wins throughout their careers.
Of the 21 coaches on the watch list, six are previous winners of The Dodd Trophy, including Brown (2008), Swinney (2011), Saban (2014), Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (2015), Utah’s Kyle Whittingham (2019) and Fritz (2022).
Additionally, three of the finalists for last year’s award are represented, including Harbaugh, Whittingham and Fritz.
A midseason watch list – adding to or narrowing the field – will be released in the fall. A panel consisting of previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a College Football Hall of Fame member will identify the final list of potential recipients at the conclusion of the 2023 season. The winner of the 2023 Dodd Trophy Presented by PNC Bank will be announced in Atlanta during the week of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Starting in September, the Dodd Coach of the Week Award will also honor coaches on a weekly basis whose program embodies the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, while also having success on the playing field during the previous week.
Dodd, a former All-American quarterback at Tennessee, became Tech’s head coach in 1944 after serving as an assistant under William Alexander. He went 165-64-8 (.713 winning percentage) over 22 seasons. Tech enjoyed a 31-game winning streak from 1951- 53, including a perfect 12-0 mark and a national title in 1952. He helped 21 Yellow Jackets earn All-America honors, and went 9-4 in bowl games, winning eight in a row.
Source: http://chick-fil-apeachbowl.com
