AFCA names Mike MacIntyre, Mike Houston coaches of the year
Former Brentwood Academy and Vanderbilt player Mike MacIntyre, now the coach at Colorado, was named the American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year Tuesday night at Grand Ole Opry House.
MacIntyre followed in the footsteps of his father, George MacIntyre, who won two national coach of the year awards in 1982.
It marks the first time a father and son have been named national coach of the year.
Mike MacIntyre, 51, also was named the Associated Press and Walter Camp coach of the year after guiding Colorado to its first winning season (10-4) since 2005.
George won the Bobby Dodd and Sporting News national coach of the year awards in 1982 after leading Vanderbilt to an 8-4 record and a berth in the Hall of Fame Bowl.
George MacIntyre died on Jan. 5. 2016.
"I grew up a coach's son, I played for my dad, my son plays for plays for me," Mike MacIntyre said. "To be able to win this award and be the national coach of the year and my dad do it, we're the only father and son to do that, is special. It's even a little more special to do it in the year that he passed. He's not here to be able to share it with us, but for some reason I feel like he's able to see some of it."
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Mike MacIntyre, who received a five-year extension Monday worth $16.5 million, said his father taught him how to rebuild a program.
Mike MacIntyre went 10-27 in his first three seasons as Colorado. George MacIntyre went 7-26 in his first three seasons at Vanderbilt.
"I guess it's in our DNA," MacIntyre said. "He did the same thing at UT Martin, he did the same thing at Vanderbilt. I was fortunate enough to do the same thing at San Jose State and I've done the same thing at Colorado. I think the underlying factor in all of it is I saw him and how much he cared for young people and to help them reach and grow as people to realize that hard work and doing things right and belief in each other and commitment really can change things."
The other AFCA Coach of the Year candidates were Alabama's Nick Saban, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, Western Michigan's P.J. Fleck, now the coach at Minnesota, and West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen.
MacIntyre also received the Comeback Coach of the Year Tuesday.
The AFCA crystal ball trophy was presented to Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, whose team defeated Alabama 35-31 Monday night in the national championship game.
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The crystal ball was handed down at the show to Swinney from several other coaches who have won national championships, including former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer.
Swinney said he didn't have much to say because he had lost his voice in the aftermath of Monday night's celebration.
"I'm holding the trophy, but there are a lot of fingerprints on it; our other coaches, our fans, those who have supported us," Swinney said. "To God be the glory."
Former Houston coach Tom Herman, who was recently named the coach at Texas, won the USA TODAY Sports Coach's Play Call of the Year for Brandon WIlson's return of a missed field goal by Oklahoma on Sept. 3.
"It was a play that was suggested to me by a couple of different staff members and I figured it was a 52-yard field goal, we're probably not going to block it anyway," Herman said. "We'd been practicing the dang thing for two years and I'd never called it. Brandon Wilson, to his credit, was a centimeter from the back line, reached up and caught it. He's our kickoff returner so he's really fast, used to returning it and the rest is history."
Legendary West Virginia coach Don Nehlen, the winningest coach in Mountaineer history, won the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award.
Nehlen is in the College Football Hall of Fame, won the AFCA Coach of the Year in 1988 and was the Kodak Coach of the Year and the Woody Hunt Award in 1993.
James Madison coach Mike Houston, whose team went 14-1 and beat Youngstown 28-14 in the FCS national championship last week, was tabbed the FCS Coach of the Year.
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