Alabama’s Nick Saban Named 2018 Walter Camp Coach of the Year
Nick Saban, head coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, is the Walter Camp 2018 Coach of the Year. The Walter Camp Coach of the Year is selected by the nation’s 130 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors.
It is the second time that Saban has earned the honor (2008). Saban also joins former Alabama head coach Gene Stallings (1992) as the Walter Camp Coach of the Year. In addition, Saban is the 10th coach from the Southeastern Conference to earn the honor.
Under Saban’s direction this season, the Crimson Tide have recorded a 13-0 record, won the SEC title (a come-from-behind 35-28 victory over Georgia on Dec. 1), and will make its fifth straight appearance in the College Football Playoff.
The top-ranked Crimson will play fourth-ranked Oklahoma in 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capitol One Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. on Saturday, December 29.
In addition, six Alabama players were recently honored as Walter Camp All-America selections, including 2018 Walter Camp Player of the Year, sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Entering the College Football Playoff semifinals, the Crimson Tide are averaging 47.9 points per game (good for 2nd in the nation), while allowed just 14.8 (4th in the nation).
In 12 seasons as Alabama’s coach, Saban holds an impressive 145-20 record (.879 winning percentage) and has led the Crimson Tide to five national championships (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017). He is 236-62-1 in 23 years as a college football head coach with stints at Toledo, Michigan State and LSU.
A native of Fairmont, West Virginia, Saban is a 1973 graduate of Kent State University where he earned a B.S. in business. He then earned a master’s degree in sports management from Kent State in 1975. He and his wife Terry have two children and one grandchild.
Coach Saban, along with the members of the 2018 Walter Camp All-America team and other major award winners (2018 Walter Camp Player of the Year Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama; Alumni Award-Larry Fitzgerald; Man of the Year-Mike Golic; Distinguished American-Archie Manning, and Connecticut Player of the Year-Zach Allen, Boston College), will be honored at the organization’s national awards banquet, presented by David McDermott Lexus of New Haven, on Saturday, January 12, 2019 at the Yale University’s Lanman Center.
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients.
Walter Camp Coaches of the Year
2018 – Nick Saban, Alabama
2017 – Mark Richt, Miami
2016 – Mike MacIntyre, Colorado
2015 – Dabo Swinney, Clemson
2014 – Gary Patterson, TCU
2013 – David Cutcliffe, Duke
2012 – Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
2011 – Les Miles, LSU
2010 – Chip Kelly, Oregon
2009 – Gary Patterson, TCU
2008 – Nick Saban, Alabama
2007 – Mark Mangino, Kansas
2006 – Greg Schiano, Rutgers
2005 – Joe Paterno, Penn State
2004 – Tommy Tuberville, Auburn
2003 – Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
2002 – Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
2001 – Ralph Friedgen, Maryland
2000 – Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
1999 – Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
1998 – Bill Synder, Kansas State
1997 – Lloyd Carr, Michigan
1996 – Bruce Snyder, Arizona State
1995 – Gary Barnett, Northwestern
1994 – Joe Paterno, Penn State
1993 – Terry Bowden, Auburn
1992 – Gene Stallings, Alabama
1991 – Bobby Bowden, Florida State
1990 – Bobby Ross, Georgia Tech
1989 – Bill McCartney, Colorado
1988 – Don Nehlen, West Virginia
1987 – Dick MacPherson, Syracuse
1986 – Jimmy Johnson, Miami
1985 – Fisher DeBerry, Air Force
1984 – Joe Morrison, South Carolina
1983 – Mike White, Illinois
1982 – Jerry Stovall, Louisiana State
1981 – Jackie Sherrill, Pittsburgh
1980 – Vince Dooley, Georgia
1979 – John Mackovic, Wake Forest
1978 – Warren Powers, Missouri
1977 – Lou Holtz, Arkansas
1976 – Frank R. Burns, Rutgers
1975 – Frank Kush, Arizona State
1974 – Barry Switzer, Oklahoma
1973 – Johnny Majors, Pittsburgh
1972 – Joe Paterno, Penn State
1971 – Bob Devaney, Nebraska
1970 – Bob Blackman, Dartmouth
1969 – Bo Schembechler, Michigan
1968 – Woody Hayes, Ohio State
1967 – John Pont, Indiana
