Liberty Mutual Honors Four with Coach of the Year Awards |
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Written by U.S. Insurance News
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Sunday, 20 January 2008 |
One coach took a two-win team and led them to nine victories and a birth in the Rose Bowl. Another coach has amassed the most wins in the history of college football.
These two coaches, along with two others, have each been named a 2007 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year.
All four men-Ron Zook of the University of Illinois; Jerry Kill, formerly of Southern Illinois University; Bill O'Boyle of Chadron State (Neb.) College; and John Gagliardi of Saint John's (Minn.) University-were chosen for their success on the field and their humanitarian efforts off it.
Kirk Herbstreit, a former college player and a football analyst with ESPN/ABC, said the Liberty Mutual award is different from other sports awards.
"This award stands out among the many others in sports because it not only celebrates these coaches' 2007 seasons, but also the way they have built their football programs- with young men of character, sportsmanship and integrity," said Herbstreit, one of the committee voters for the award "Simply put, they not only win, but they win the right way. They symbolize what is good today in college football."
The four coaches, each representing a different division of college football, were picked by a selection committee and fan votes tallied at the Coach of the Year Web site. Each was determined to be the coach in his division who "best exemplifies responsibility and excellence on and off the field of play." Liberty Mutual is giving all four winners $50,000 each to support his civic and charitable activities, and $20,000 in scholarship money for their school's alumni associations. In addition, the coaches will be honored in the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award display at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.
"The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame takes great pride in being associated with The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award," said Steve Hatchell, NFF president and CEO. "With a set of criteria that reaches far beyond the scoreboard, this award stands for many of the same values that our organization has been promoting for the past 60 years: integrity, sportsmanship, community leadership, academic achievement and athletic excellence."
Coach Zook won the award for Division I-A/Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), leading the Fighting Illinois of the University of Illinois to second place in the Big Ten and a birth in the Rose Bowl. Off the field, Zook demonstrates great commitment to his players' success in the classroom, as evidenced by the eight-point improvement in the team's Academic Progress Rate (APR) in 2007. He also is active in many community and charitable endeavors, including a women's football clinic that he hosts to raise money for the American Cancer Society, and organizing a team-wide supply drive to support Cunningham Children's Home in Urbana.
Coach Kill won the award for Division I-AA/Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Before he recently took the head coaching job at Northern Illinois University, Kill led the Salukis of Southern Illinois to a 12-2 season and a fifth consecutive berth in the FCS
playoffs. His student-athletes regularly perform well in the classroom, earning team APRs much higher than the Gateway Conference average. Kill was also a leader in the Carbondale community. He and his team regularly participate in community-service and goodwill projects, such as Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, and the Souper Bowl for Hunger Campaign. After a bout with kidney cancer in 2005, Kill formed the Coach Kill Cancer Fund, which assists needy residents of Southern Illinois who are seeking cancer treatment.
O'Boyle won the award in Division II. In his fourth season at Chadron State, he led the Eagles to an 11-0 regular season record before losing a quarterfinal playoff game. O'Boyle stresses academics first for his Eagles, and has coached two Academic All-Americans in the past three seasons. When he's not coaching, O'Boyle still is on the field: as an avid artist, he paints the Chadron State gridiron before each home game and the logos on local Little League baseball fields. Each Sunday he helps "Operation Bread Basket," which delivers bread to the needy.
Gagliardi won the award in Division III. The winningest coach in college football history, Gagliardi led the Johnnies of Saint John's to a 10-2 record and a playoff appearance in his 55th year of coaching in Collegeville, Minn. His student-athletes are high performers in the classroom, with four players earning Academic All-American honors since 2005. In addition, the coach continues to run youth football clinics and camps every off-season and remains actively involved in supporting youth sports in Trinidad, Colo., where he began his coaching career while team captain at Trinidad High School in 1943 at the age of 16.
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