AUSTIN — College football’s preseason awards and watch lists are meaningless to some, but are a nice appetizer to appease fans’ appetites until preseason camp begins in August.
Texas Head Coach Tom Herman was named to the watch list of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award.
The second-year Longhorns head coach is among 20 notable college football head coaches.
“The Dodd Trophy distinguishes itself from other coaching awards due to the high standards used to determine potential candidates,” said Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “This is the most-coveted coaching award because it looks beyond rankings, wins or losses, and measures the overall impact these coaches have on their players, universities and communities.”
The full list includes:
- Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
- James Franklin, Penn State
- Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech
- Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
- Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
- Bryan Harsin, Boise State
- Clay Helton, USC
- Tom Herman, Texas
- Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
- Gus Malzahn, Auburn
- Urban Meyer, Ohio State
- Will Muschamp, South Carolina
- Gary Patterson, TCU
- Chris Petersen, Washington
- Mark Richt, Miami
- Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
- Nick Saban, Alabama
- David Shaw, Stanford
- Kirby Smart, Georgia
- Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Five of the coaches on the list are previous winners of the trophy, including David Shaw (2017), Nick Saban (2014), Dabo Swinney (2011), Chris Petersen (2010) and Gary Patterson (2009). Four of the coaches were finalists for 2017’s award, including Swinney, Paul Chryst, Mark Richt and Kirby Smart.
The winner will be announced in Atlanta during Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Week.
