I-A COACH OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

by: Richard Scott
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With two strong seasons at Bowling Green and two more extraordinary seasons at Utah, Meyer’s immediate success as a head coach led to two more head coaching offers from two major powers this fall, with Meyer eventually picking Florida over Notre Dame.

That’s what happens when you go 38-8 in your first four seasons as a head coach. After 15 seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State, Illinois State, Colorado State and Notre Dame, Meyer engineered the top turnaround in NCAA Division I-A football with a six-win improvement in his first season at BGSU in 2001. He followed that with a 9-3 record and a move to Utah, where a 10-2 record tied for the best record in school history.

Meyer, 40, and the Utes climbed to yet another level in 2004, going 11-0, winning the Mountain West once again, rising to No. 5 in the AP poll and No. 6 in the coaches poll, busting their way into the Bowl Championship Series rankings at No. 6 and forcing their way into the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day.

“The team has been focused all season and that’s a credit to a lot of people,” Meyer said. “To break all the barriers we’ve broken to get here has been phenomenal. That’s a credit to a lot of people, but mostly our players.”

With a balanced spread offense, the Utes led the Mountain West in scoring and total offense averaging 50.1 points per game and 501 yards per game. After earning coach of the year honors from The Sporting News in 2003, Meyer earned 2004 Home Depot Coach of the Year and the 2004 Woody Hayes Trophy before accepting the opportunity to coach Florida.

“This is a place you can put your feet down hopefully for a long time,” he said.

BOBBY PETRINO-Louisville

After going 20-5 in two seasons at Louisville, Petrino found his name on the lists of several schools searching for a new head coach. However, it didn’t take long before Petrino put an end to all the talk with a public commitment to Louisville and a new contract worth $1 million annually and a $50,000 bonus if the Cardinals reach the Bowl Championship Series title game.

That was probably not going to happen as long as Louisville played in Conference USA, but with the Cardinals joining the Big East next year and Petrino leading the way, playing for the national championship is no longer beyond Louisville’s grasp.

“That’s what our goal is,” Petrino said. “It’s certainly something that’s out there for us and something we’re committed to getting done.”

Petrino, 43, has certainly done his part to put the Cardinals on the right track. A former Louisville offensive coordinator under John L. Smith, Petrino inherited a much-improved program from Smith in 2003 and went 9-4 with an exciting offense and an uncertain defense. With significant improvement on defense in 2004, the Cardinals also profited on offense and finished the regular season as the nation’s top offense, averaging 50.3 points and 536 yards per game on their way to a 10-1 record.

Louisville went on to win the C-USA championship and earn a trip to the Liberty Bowl, but Petrino and the Cardinals will be competing for even bigger, better bowls in the Big East.

“I’m looking forward to the upcoming years,” he said. “This is the place I want to be, this is the place my family wants to be. We’re looking forward to the future.”

JEFF TEDFORD-Cal

No coach on this list has brought his current program further than Tedford, who inherited a moribund California program when he took over in late 2001.

The Bears went eight consecutive years without a winning season and six without a bowl when Tedford turned the program back in the right direction and earned Pac-10 coach of the years honors in 2002 with a 7-5 finish. The Bears took another big step in 2003 by going 8-6, giving national champion USC its only loss of the year and beating Virginia Tech 52-49 in the Insight Bowl.

The Bears entered the 2004 with high expectations and met them time after time, losing only to top-ranked USC in a hard-fought 23-17 defeat. Cal finished the regular season with a 10-1 record and emerged as the only team in the NCAA’s top six both in scoring offense and scoring defense as the Bears also earned three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1950-52.

The Bears eventually climbed to No. 4 in both the media and coaches polls, but controversial last-minute changes by voters in both polls led to Cal finishing fifth in the Bowl Championship Series standings behind Texas, allowing Texas to play in the Rose Bowl. Cal received an invitation to the Holiday Bowl.

Tedford isn’t done with coaching the Bears, either. After earning Pac-10 coach of the year honors and hearing his name mentioned for several job openings, Tedford signed a new five-year contract in early December.

“It’s a dynasty in the making,” junior center Marvin Philip said. “Coach Tedford showed when he first came in here that he was dedicated to this university, and now he's proving it. The best is yet to come for us."

BOB STOOPS-Oklahoma

It’s almost difficult to remember just how far once-mighty Oklahoma had fallen before Bob Stoops took over as head coach in 1999. In an age where many schools try to hire experienced head coaches or offensive coordinators, Stoops came to Oklahoma with an impressive defensive resume. Since then the Sooners have returned to the ranks of college football’s elite, winning a national championship in 2000 and playing for another in 2003 and 2004.

Along the way, three Stoops assistants have become head coaches: Mike Leach at Texas Tech, Mark Mangino at Kansas and Stoops’ brother Mike at Arizona.

The Sooners played their share of tough games during the season, beating No. 5 Texas 12-0, edging No. 20 Oklahoma State 38-35 and No. 22 Texas A&M 42-35 before closing strong with an impressive 42-3 victory over Colorado in the Big 12 championship game.

“I love the way we finished up the year in the Big 12 Championship and we really put it all together for an entire 60 minutes when we needed it most,” Stoops said. “All parts of the game played in a great way.”

Defense continues to provide a strong foundation for Oklahoma under Stoops, a former defensive coordinator at Kansas State and Florida. The Sooners led the Big 12 by allowing only 13.7 points and 280 total yards per game.

The offense also provided plenty of help. Led by two 2004 Heisman Trophy finalists, 2003 Heisman winning quarterback Jason White and freshman running back Adrian Peterson, the Sooners also led the Big 12 with 36.1 points per game and finished second with 469.6 total yards per game.

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