Top college football coach award sets new nominee mark in 2021

20200517_134556by:Justin Rudolph•12/07/21

Award season for college football is underway and for the Eddie Robinson Award, there has been a record number of finalists for the 2021 season. A total of 13 coaches have been named finalists this year. The record-breaking list includes everything from previous winners to first-time nominees.

The Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), in conjunction with the Allstate Sugar Bowl, is awarded annually to college football’s top head coach in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, known as the FCS division. The award was established in 1987 and is voted upon by the division’s sports information directors and selected sportswriters. The FWAA has presented a coaching award since 1957 but changed the name 40 years later to what it is today. It is named after Eddie Robinson, the College Football Hall of Fame coach, who retired in 1997 after 56 years at Grambling State University.

It is presented on the night as the Walter Payton and Buck Buchanan Awards and will be presented this year on Monday, Dec. 20. The official presentation will be at a reception Sat., Jan. 8, 2022, in Indianapolis before the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Here is a list of this year’s finalists.


Blake Anderson, Utah State
Dave Aranda, Baylor
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
Thomas Hammock, NIU
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
Billy Napier, Louisiana
Pat Narduzzi, Pitt
Nick Saban, Alabama
Kalani Sitake, BYU
Kirby Smart, Georgia
Jeff Traylor, UTSA
Mel Tucker, Michigan State
Kyle Whittingham, Utah.

ESPN’s announces finalist for two of its awards

The Biletnikoff Award honors the top receiver of the year and the Jim Thorpe Award goes to the best defensive back in the country.

Each of the two is down to its top three nominees. Here are the finalists for both honors.

Biletnikoff Award finalists

Jordan Addison — Pittsburgh

Jordan Addison leads the FBS with 15 touchdown catches for Pittsburgh this season. He also averages 115.6 yards per game, which ranks seventh in the country, to help the Panthers to a 9-2 record and an appearance in the ACC title game.

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Jim Thorpe Award finalists

Coby Bryant — Cincinnati

Coby Bryant is having a solid season for Cincinnati and is tied for sixth in the country in passes defended. The Bearcats are 11-0 this year, but still sit outside the top four of the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

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ESPN will announce the winners for the College Football Awards on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. ET.

On3’s Nick Schultz has the complete list and breakdown of each awards finalist.