LITTLE ROCK - The Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2017 Broyles Award, which honors college football’s top assistant coaches.
The 56 nominees in this year’s class were selected from approximately 1500 assistant coaches representing 129 Division One programs across the country. For the first time in the award’s 22 year history, a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) was also included in the Broyles Award selection process.
The nominees include:
Alabama – Brian Daboll, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Arizona – Rod Smith, Co–Offensive Coordinator
Arizona State – Phil Bennett, Defensive Coordinator
Arkansas State – Brian Early, Defensive Line Coach
Auburn – Kevin Steele, Defensive Coordinator
Boise State – Andy Avalos, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Bowling Green State – Matt Brock, Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers Coach
California – Beau Baldwin, Offensive Coordinator
Central Florida – Troy Walters, Offensive Coordinator
Clemson – Tony Elliot, Co–Offensive Coordinator, Running Backs
Eastern Michigan – Neal Neathery, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach
FAU – Chris Kiffin, Defensive Coordinator
FIU – Brent Guy, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Fresno State – Orlondo Steinauer, Defensive Coordinator
Georgia – Mel Tucker, Defensive Coordinator
Georgia State – Nate Fuqua, Defensive Coordinator/Outside Linebackers
Iowa State – Jon Heacock, Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
Kansas State – Sean Snyder, Special Teams Coordinator
LSU – Dave Aranda, Defensive Coordinator
Memphis – Joe Lorig, Special Teams Coordinator; – Outside Linebackers
Miami – Manny Diaz, Defensive Coordinator
Michigan – Don Brown, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Michigan State – Harlon Barnett, Co–Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach
Mississippi State – Todd Grantham, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Missouri – Josh Heupel, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
NC State – Dwayne Ledford, Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator
North Texas – Graham Harrell, Offensive Coordinator
Northwestern – Mike Hankwitz, Defensive Coordinator
Notre Dame – Mike Elko, Defensive Coordinator
Ohio State – Larry Johnson, Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach
Oklahoma – Bill Bedenbaugh, Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line
Oklahoma State – Mike Yurcich, Offensive Coordinator/QBs
Ole Miss – Derrick Nix, Running Backs Coach
Oregon – Jim Leavitt, Defensive Coordinator
Penn State – Brent Pry, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach
San José State – Bojay Filimoeatu, Linebackers Coach
SMU – Joe Craddock, Offensive Coordinator
South Carolina – Coleman Hutzler, Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers Coach
Southern Miss – Tony Pecoraro, Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers
Stanford – Mike Bloomgren, Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line
Syracuse – Brian Ward, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach
TCU – Chad Glasgow, Defensive Coordinator
Temple – Jim Panagos, Defensive Line
Texas – Todd Orlando, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Toledo – Brian Wright, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach
Troy – Vic Koenning, Defensive Coordinator
U.S. Military Academy – Brent Davis, Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line
USC – Tee Martin, Offensive Coordinator/WR Coach
Utah State – Mark Tommerdahl, Special Teams Coordinator/Running Backs
Virginia Tech – Bud Foster, Defensive Coordinator
Wake Forest – Warren Ruggiero, Offensive Coordinator
Washington – Pete Kwiatkowski, Defensive Coordinator
Washington State – Alex Grinch, Defensive Coordinator / Secondary
West Virginia – Tony Gibson, Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Western Kentucky – Clayton White, Defensive Coordinator
Wisconsin – Jim Leonhard, Defensive Coordinator
An 18-member selection committee of distinguished former head coaches, along with a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America will select 15 semi-finalists and five finalists from the list of nominees and an overall winner. Those finalists will be invited to travel to Little Rock, Ark. where the 2017 Broyles Award winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 5th at the Marriott Hotel.
The winner of the 2016 Broyles Award was Brent Venables, Clemson defensive coordinator. Winners from the past five seasons are not eligible to be nominated for the Broyles Award. For a list of all previous winners and finalists, visit the Broyles Award website.
This year marks the second time the Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation has presented the award. Proceeds from the 2017 Broyles Award support the mission of the Broyles Foundation; to provide education, support, and resources to Alzheimer’s caregivers. The Broyles Foundation can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.
