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

 

www.waltercamp.org