Chadwell named Group of 5 Conference Coach of the Year
HOUSTON – Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell was named the Group of 5 2020 Conference Coach of the Year and is one of eight finalists for the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award, it was announced today.
The Paul “Bear” Bryant Award annually recognizes the country’s top college football coaches for their contributions both on and off the field, making the sport better for athletes and fans alike by demonstrating grit, integrity, and a winning approach to coaching and life. The award is the only college coaching honor selected after all postseason bowl games and the National Championship have been played.
Chadwell, who was named the 2020 Sun Belt Coach of the Year, was also recently named the 2020 Werner Ladder AFCA FBS Region 2 Coach of the Year and named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award as Coach of the Year, presented by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
Chadwell has led the Chants to the program’s first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship title and an 11-0 overall mark, including an 8-0 Sun Belt Conference record, this season. Coastal is one of just two teams in all of FBS at 11-0 this season, the other being No. 1 nationally-ranked Alabama.
This season marked Coastal Carolina’s first-ever undefeated regular season and the first time that the Chanticleers have been ranked in either the Associated Press Top 25 Poll or the Amway Coaches Poll presented by USA Today Sports.
Thus far in 2020, the Chanticleers have posted two wins over FBS top 25 nationally-ranked opponents, including the first in program history, four wins over top 50 opponents, and has been ranked as high as No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 11 in the Amway Coaches Poll.
Coastal will be playing in the program’s first-ever bowl game this Saturday, Dec. 26, as the Chanticleers will take on No. 23 Liberty in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
Football coaching legend, Paul “Bear” Bryant, died from a heart attack in 1983. Moved to drive education around heart disease after his passing, the Bryant family teamed with the American Heart Association in 1986 building on the Association’s Coach of the Year Award to create the Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards program. Each year since then, the awards honor “Bear’s” legacy by recognizing coaching excellence while raising critical funds for research to eradicate cardiovascular disease through event sponsorships, an auction and individual charitable donations.
The 2020 Conference Coaches of the Year awardees are (in alphabetical order):
- Big 10 – Tom Allen – Indiana University
- Big XII – Matt Campbell – Iowa State University
- Group of 5 – Jamey Chadwell – Coastal Carolina University, Sun Belt Conference
- Pac 12 – Mario Cristobal – University of Oregon
- ACC – Brian Kelly – University of Notre Dame
- SEC – Nick Saban – University of Alabama
