Jan. 10, 2007

San Antonio, TX - The American Football Coaches Association capped its 2007 convention by presenting its top coaching award -- AFCA Coach of the Year -- to five outstanding coaches today. Grand Valley State's Chuck Martin, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe, Appalachian State's Jerry Moore, Mount Union's Larry Kehres and Sioux Falls' Kalen DeBoer are the 2006 AFCA National Coach of the Year winners. Grobe in Division I-A, Moore in Division I-AA, Martin in Division II, Kehres in Division III and DeBoer in the NAIA.

The winners are selected by a vote of the Active AFCA members (coaches at four-year schools) in the Association's five divisions. The AFCA has named a Coach of the Year since 1935. The AFCA Coach of the Year award is the oldest and most prestigious of all the Coach of the Year awards and is the only one chosen exclusively by the coaches themselves.

"It is truly an honor to be selected as the 2006 AFCA Division II Coach of the Year when you have so many deserving and great coaches at the Division II level," said Martin. "However, this is really a program award and I have to give credit to my incredible coaching staff that has done a wonderful job of coaching and preparing our players each and every week. I am fortunate to be surrounded by great coaches and players that make my job much easier and enjoyable," added Martin.

Chuck Martin led the Lakers to a 15-0 record, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and the NCAA Division II championship in 2006 to earn his second consecutive AFCA National Coach of the Year Award. Grand Valley State is just the second school in Division II history to win 15 games in a season. Martin has a three-year career head coaching record of 38-3 (.927), including a 10-1 postseason record.

More on Martin... Second AFCA National Coach of the Year Award ... Led the Lakers to a 15-0 record, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and the NCAA Division II championship in 2006 to earn his second consecutive AFCA National Coach of the Year Award ... Has a three-year career record of 38-3 (.927) in three seasons at Grand Valley State ... Martin's 2005 squad finished 13-0 and won the national title ... Martin's 2004 squad finished 10-3 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs, making him the winningest first-year head coach in the program's history ... Served as an assistant coach for four years at GVSU (2000-2003) and was the defensive coordinator for the Lakers' 2003 national championship squad ... Has been a member of the coaching staff for all four Grand Valley State national championships (2002-03-05-06) ... This season's team is just the third in school history to finish with a perfect record. Previous AFCA National Coach of the Year Honors: Division II, 2005

Jim Grobe led the Demon Deacons to an 11-3 record, the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and a berth in the Orange Bowl this season. The 11 wins are a school record and the ACC title is the first for Wake since 1970. He is the first coach in school history to take two of his teams to bowl games in the ACC era.

Jerry Moore led the Mountaineers to a 14-1 record, the Southern Conference title and the NCAA Division I-AA championship to earn AFCA National Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row. The national title was the second consecutive championship for the Mountaineers. The winningest coach in the history of the Southern Conference, Moore's teams have made 12 postseason appearances and 13 of his 17 teams have finished the season ranked in the NCAA Division I-AA Top 25.

Larry Kehres led the Purple Raiders to a 15-0 record, their 17th Ohio Athletic Conference title and their ninth NCAA Division III championship this season to earn his record eighth AFCA Division III Coach of the Year Award. In 21 seasons at Mount Union Kehres has a career record of 246-20-3 (.920), including a 216-10-1 (.954) mark since 1990. Kehres' teams are 51-8 all-time in the playoffs and 103-10 in OAC play.

Kalen DeBoer led the Cougars to a 14-0 record, the Great Plains Athletic Conference title and the NAIA championship this season to earn his first AFCA National Coach of the Year Award. In two seasons as a head coach DeBoer has a career record of 25-2 (.926) with two GPAC titles and two playoff appearances. DeBoer was an All-America wide receiver on Sioux Falls' 1996 NAIA championship team and the offensive coordinator on their 2001 NAIA runner-up squad.

Top Individuals: Larry Kehres of Mount Union is the only coach in AFCA history to win National Coach of the Year honors eight times. He has earned the award in Mount Union's national championship seasons of 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006. Joe Paterno of Penn State earned his Division I-A fifth National Coach of the Year Award in 2005 (1968-72-82-86). Bob Reade of Augustana (Ill.) College is the only four-time AFCA Coach of the Year winner. Reade earned the honor in 1983-84-85-86 in College Division II (Now Division III). Youngstown State and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel (1991-94-2003), Alabama's Bear Bryant (1961, 1971, 1973) and North Alabama's Bobby Wallace (1993-94-95) are the only three-time Coach of the Year winners. Wallace, Reade and Kehres are the only coaches to win the award in three or more consecutive seasons.

Top Schools: Mount Union is the only institution to have a representative win the AFCA National Coach of the Year Award eight times. Georgia Southern and Penn State are the only schools with five winners. Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Augustana (Ill.), Grand Valley State, North Dakota State and Wittenberg have had representatives win AFCA national awards four times.

Larry Kehres has won all eight awards for Mount Union (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006). Paul Johnson (1999, 2000), Erk Russell (1986, 1989) and Tim Stowers (1990) are Georgia Southern's honorees. Lloyd Carr (1997), Fritz Crisler (1947), Bennie Oosterbaan (1948) and Bo Schembechler (1969) are Michigan's winners. Bill Edwards (1962, 1963) and Dave Maurer (1973, 1975), his successor, are responsible for Wittenberg being listed in the select group. North Dakota State's national winners are Don Morton (1983), Earle Solomonson (1986) and Rocky Hager (1988, 1990). Gene Stallings earned Coach of the Year honors in 1992 to join three-time winner Bear Bryant as Alabama's winners. Penn State's Paterno and Augustana's Reade account for all of their school's awards. Ohio State's Jim Tressel joins Carroll Widdoes (1944), Woody Hayes (1957) and Earle Bruce (1979) as one of the four Buckeye coaches to win the award. Chuck Martin (2005-2006) joins Brian Kelly (2002-2003) as the winners from Grand Valley State.

Pete Carroll's selection in 2003 made USC one of only three schools with three winners (John McKay, 1962, 1972). The Trojans join Furman (Dick Sheridan, 1985; Jimmy Satterfield, 1988; Bobby Johnson, 2001) and North Alabama (Bobby Wallace, 1993-94-95) in the triple winner category.

Two-Timers: Coaches who have been two-time national winners in addition to Chuck Martin, Brian Kelly, Jim Tressel, Paul Johnson, Bill Edwards, Dave Maurer, John McKay, Rocky Hager and Erk Russell are: Darrell Royal, Texas (1963, 1970); Harold "Tubby" Raymond, Delaware (1971-72) Jerry Moore, Appalachian State (2005-06); Joe Glenn, Northern Colorado (1996-97), Mel Tjeerdsma, Northwest Missouri State (1998-99), and Jim Butterfield, Ithaca (1988, 1991).

Back-to-Back: Paul Johnson, Bill Edwards, Bob Reade, Tubby Raymond, Bobby Wallace, Joe Glenn, Larry Kehres, Mel Tjeerdsma, Brian Kelly, Jerry Moore and Chuck Martin are the only coaches to win national honors in consecutive years. No I-A coach has won the award in consecutive years. Kehres is the only coach to win three consecutive Coach of the Year awards twice.

Fit to be Tied: In 2003, Brian Kelly and Mike Van Diest became the fourth duo in the history of the AFCA National Coach of the Year award to finish in a tie for the honor and the first non-I-A coaches to share the award. Larry Coker and Ralph Friedgen finished in a tie for the honor in 2001. In 1964, Frank Broyles of Arkansas and Ara Parseghian of Notre Dame shared the award and in 1970 Charlie McClendon of Louisiana State and Darrell Royal of Texas were co-winners.

Like Father, Like Son: Jim Tressel and his father, Lee are the only father-son combination to win Coach of the Year honors in AFCA history. Lee Tressel was named College Division Coach of the Year in 1978 at Baldwin-Wallace.