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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Division I-A Coach of the Year Runners-up.

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GARY BARNETT
COLORADO


Back in late July, Colorado Coach Gary Barnett visited Dallas for the Big 12’s annual preseason media event when he decided to take some of his players on a trip to Texas Stadium, home of the 2001 Big 12 championship game. Then he told his players that the season would be a disappointment if they did not return to Texas Stadium at the end of the regular season.

After last year’s team fell to 3-8, with a multitude of key injuries and four losses by a combined 12 points, Barnett’s detour seemed more like fantasy than reality. However, the Buffaloes not only returned to Dallas for the conference championship game, but they also won the Big 12 title by beating Texas 39-47 on Dec. 1.

Along the way, the Buffaloes went 10-2 and overcame a season-opening loss to Fresno State and a late-season loss to Texas by beating Big 12 North Division rivals Nebraska and Kansas State. The Buffaloes also won their first conference championship since 1991 and took a huge step toward fulfilling the vision Barnett established when he left Northwestern for Colorado (where he had been an assistant for eight years) in 1999: “Return to Dominance.”

MIKE PRICE
WASHINGTON STATE

In the minds of some college football observers, Mike Price entered the season on the “hot seat” after a 10-24 record over the three previous seasons and predictions that picked his Cougars to finish last in this year’s Pac-10 race.

But Price hasn’t survived 13 seasons at Washington State and 21 continuous seasons as a head coach by accident. On the contrary, Price has learned to do more with less most of the time and still remain consistently competitive.

The Cougars did more than just compete this season. They also defied preseason expectations by winning nine of 11 regular-season games and moving into the top 15 in both polls, making a serious run at the Pac-10 championship and earning Price the Pac-10’s Coach of the Year award.

“Anytime you are recognized by your peers, it is a great honor,” said Price, the dean of Pac-10 coaches. “That makes it special. I take it as a staff award and also as a team award. I certainly would not have got the award if the team had not played well.

Price also earned the Pac-10 Coach of the Year award in 1997, when the Cougars went 10-2 record and played in the Rose Bowl. Washington State’s trip to the Sun Bowl will be its fourth bowl under Price, the most of any coach in school history.

URBAN MEYER
BOWLING GREEN

In this day and age, we almost expect young coaches to come in and try to transform losing programs with more pop and sizzle than a Vegas floor show. Urban Meyer was 36 years old when he came to Bowling Green last December and took over a program in need of new energy and enthusiasm after six consecutive losing seasons.

Meyer brought plenty of energy and enthusiasm, but instead of relying on pop and sizzle to put the program back on the right track, Meyer and his coaches worked like brick layers to re-build the program from the ground up. Meyer, now 37, might be one of the nation’s youngest head coaches, but his basic foundation was based on long-held building blocks such as pre-dawn workouts, demanding weight training routines and academic discipline. Meyer put his team to the test, even if it meant that at least 18 players would fail those tests and not be around when the season began.

“He got your attention from the start,” senior linebacker Khary Campbell said. “When he said he wanted things done right, you didn’t think he meant it – you knew he meant it. Some guys got scared, but a lot of guys just got better.”

The players who decided to stick around and pay the price also finished 8-3, 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference.

RON TURNER
ILLINOIS

Illinois’ Big Ten championship was a long time coming for Coach Ron Turner and the Fighting Illini.

Not just because Illinois had not won a conference championship since 1983, but because Turner and many current Illini players had waited nearly three years to reach the pinnacle of the Big Ten.

When the Illini made a brief run at the Big Ten title in 1999 and finished 8-4, Illinois fans celebrated the program’s transformation from a 3-19 record over the two previous seasons. However, Turner, his coaches and his players had bigger and better plans, and even though the Illini slipped to 5-6 in 2000 under the weight of several key injuries and some close losses, they remained determined to get back on the right track this season.

The Illini did just that by going 10-1 and earning both a conference championship and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. In a rugged year for Big Ten teams, it was Illinois that emerged as the best of the bunch, winning seven consecutives after an early season loss to Michigan, climbing to No. 7 in the final regular-season polls and scoring an average of 32.4 points per game, a school record. In the process, Turner became the unanimous Big Ten Coach of the Year selection.






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