JMU?S MATTHEWS NAMED LIBERTY MUTUAL COACH OF THE YEAR
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (December 31, 2008) -- James Madison’s Mickey Matthews Wednesday (Dec. 31) was recognized as one of four national coaches of the year for the 2008 college football season by Liberty Mutual.
Matthews during the 2008 season led JMU to a 12-2 overall record and to the Colonial Athletic Association championship. The Dukes were the top-ranked FCS team nationally from late September through the end of the regular season and were the No. 1 seed for the NCAA FCS playoffs. JMU reached the semifinals of the national playoffs and during the season tied its all-time winning streak record of 12 games.
JMU compiled an 8-0 record in the CAA, which produced five of the teams in the 16-team FCS playoff field, including eventual champion Richmond. Among the Dukes’ 12 wins were victories over seven teams that at the time were nationally ranked (Massachusetts, Appalachian State, Richmond, Villanova, William & Mary, Wofford, Villanova in the NCAA playoffs).
Matthews was named the CAA coach of the year and the FCS national coach of the year in voting through The Sports Network. He is the only two-time winner in the 22-year history of The Sports Network’s Eddie Robinson Award as national FCS coach of the year.
Matthews in 10 JMU seasons has a 76-46 record, including a 49-15 mark during the last five years. The Dukes have reached the FCS playoffs during each of the last three seasons, four times during the last five years and five times during Matthews’ 10 seasons. JMU won the 2004 national championship, and Matthews also was national coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association in 2004 and the CAA coach of the year and national coach of the year by The Sports Network in 1999.
The announcement of honors for Matthews, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Pittsburg (Kan.) State’s Chuck Broyles, and Mount Union’s Larry Kehres was made during the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville. Matthews represents the Football Championship Subdivision, Saban the Football Bowl Subdivision, Broyles Division II and Kehres Division III.
Each winning coach receives $50,000 from Liberty Mutual Insurance to support his favorite charity and $20,000 in scholarship funding for his school’s alumni association. Now in its third year, the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year charitable and scholarship donations total $680,000. The winners also will be recognized in the permanent Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year display at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.
“These four coaches represent all that is great about college football,” said Archie Manning, chair of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. “They share a collective belief that how you win is every bit as important as winning itself. They value and demonstrate respect, sportsmanship and civic involvement, and have left a positive footprint on their universities, their student-athletes, and their communities.”
Matthews, Saban, Broyles and Kehres were chosen through fan votes at www.CoachoftheYear.com and ballots cast by an elite selection committee of College Football Hall of Fame players and coaches and the national media based on their on-field coaching results, sportsmanship and integrity, academic excellence of their student-athletes, and their community commitment. Fan votes accounted for 20 percent of each coach’s final score while the College Football Hall of Famers and national college football media accounted for 55 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
“Nick Saban, Mickey Matthews, Chuck Broyles, and Larry Kehres embody the spirit of college football,” said Greg Gordon, Liberty Mutual senior vice president, Consumer Marketing. “Their commitment to responsibility, honor, integrity and excellence ? on and off the field ? has transformed their teams and will live on in their communities thanks to their legacy of strong civic and academic support.”
The 2008 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award recipients were selected from a group of 25 finalists: 10 coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and five coaches each from the Football Championship Subdivision, Division II and Division III. To qualify as a finalist, each coach had to be among the top 25 fan vote getters in his division at www.CoachoftheYear.com and then be scored by an objective model that considers, among other criteria: wins, team penalties, on-field comportment, academic achievement by the student-athletes, and civic and philanthropic commitments.
Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Selection CommitteeMedia voters: Craig Bennett (USA Today), Jack Bogaczyk (Charleston Daily Mail), Tim Brando (CBS Sports, Sporting News Radio), Pat Coleman (D3football.com), Colin Cowherd (ESPN Radio), Teddy Greenstein (Chicago Tribune), Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN), Clyde Hughes (D3football.com), Keith Jackson (Hall of Fame Sportscaster, retired), Dan Jenkins (Sportswriter/National Football Foundation historian), Bill King (Rivals Sports Radio Network), Ivan Maisel (ESPN.com), Stewart Mandel (Sports Illustrated), Gordie Mann (D3football.com), Keith McMillan (D3football.com), Brandon Misener (D2football.com), Ryan Tipps (D3football.com), and Bud Withers (Seattle Times).
College Football Hall of Fame voters include: Bob Anderson, Jim Ballard, Tom Beck, Tom Brahaney, Teel Bruner, Marino Casem, Jim Christopherson, Carmen Cozza, Jeff Davis, Dan Dierdorf, Terry Donahue, Vince Dooley, Joe Dudek, LaVell Edwards, Dick Farley, Joe Fusco, Archie Griffin, Bob Griese, Roger Harring, Chad Hennings, Lou Holtz, Jim Houston, Don James, Billy Joe, Johnnie Johnson, Ron Johnson, Roy Kidd, Gordie Lockbaum, Ronnie Lott, Archie Manning (Chair, National Football Foundation), Fred Martinelli, Mark May, Darrell Mudra, Don Nehlen, Tom Osborne, Tubby Raymond, Bob Reade, Jerry Rice, James Saxton, Jeff Siemon, Jim Sochor, Patrick Stevens, Jessie Tuggle, Herschel Walker, Frosty Westering, Paul Wiggin, Reggie Williams, Richard Wood and Ron Yary.
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About Liberty Mutual Group?’Helping people live safer, more secure lives’’ since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group (LibertyMutualGroup.com) is a diversified global insurer and sixth-largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2007 direct written premium. Liberty Mutual Group ranks 94th on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations, based on 2007 revenue. The company has over 45,000 employees located in more than 900 offices throughout the world.
The eighth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual (LibertyMutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile, homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual life insurance. The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 10,000 companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.
About the National Football Foundation & the College Football Hall of FameFounded in 1947 with leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 121 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, Play It Smart, the NFF-FWAA Football Forum, the NFF Gridiron Club of New York City, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org or www.collegefootball.org.