With the college football season approaching, preseason watch lists are beginning to be announced, and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is already up for an award of his own.
Day was named on Thursday to the preseason watch list for the Dodd Trophy, which honors a head coach that is successful on the field while also “stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity,” which the are three pillars of longtime Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd’s philosophy.
To qualify for the list, a coach was required to have an academic progress rate of at least 980, and first-year coaches are not eligible for the award. Ohio State’s academic progress rate for football was 1,000, tied for highest among the nominees along with Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, the latter a finalist last season.
This is the fourth season that Day has made the preseason watch list. The only former Ohio State coach to win the award was Jim Tressel, who took home the honor in 2002.
Other coaches on the list include Dave Aranda (Baylor), Andy Avalos (Boise State), Mack Brown (North Carolina), Dave Doeren (NC State), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), P.J. Fleck (Minnesota), Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame), Willie Fritz (Tulane), Gus Malzahn (UCF), Joey McGuire (Texas Tech), Mike Norvell (Florida State), Sam Pittman (Arkansas), Nick Saban (Alabama), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Mel Tucker (Michigan State), Brent Venables (Oklahoma) and Kyle Wittingham (Utah).
A midseason watch list will be released in the fall, and a list of finalists will be announced after the regular season, with the winner to be announced during the week of the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
