ORLANDO, Fla. (January 12, 2010) -- Villanova University head coach Andy Talley has been named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FCS National Coach of the Year. Talley, who led the Wildcats to the program's first-ever NCAA Football Championship, was honored along with TCU's Gary Patterson (FBS), Northwest Missouri State's Mel Tjeerdsma (D-II), Wisconsin-Whitewater's Lance Leipold (D-III) and Sioux Falls' Kalen DeBoer (NAIA).
The winners, announced at Tuesday's AFCA Coach of the Year Dinner in Orlando, Fla., were selected by a vote of the active AFCA members (coaches at four-year schools) in the Association's five divisions. The AFCA has named a Coach of the Year since 1935. The AFCA Coach of the Year award is the oldest and most prestigious of all the Coach of the Year awards and is the only one chosen exclusively by the coaches
themselves.
Talley and Leipold join an exclusive group of two-time Coach the Year winners including Chuck Martin, Brian Kelly, Jim Tressel, Paul Johnson, Bill Edwards, Dave Maurer, John McKay, Rocky Hager, Erk Russell, Mike Van Diest, Pete Carroll, Darrell Royal, Harold "Tubby" Raymond, Joe Glenn and Jim Butterfield.
Talley led the Wildcats to a 14-1 record, the CAA Football title and the NCAA Division I Football National Championship in 2009. The NCAA title was the first in football for the school and the team's 14 wins marked a record. Talley, the 2009 CAA Football Coach of the Year, also earned AFCA Coach of the Year honors in 1997. The 25-year Villanova head coach helped resurrect the once dormant program in 1985 and now has a career record of 207-120-2 (.632) in 30 seasons as a head coach.
Talley will enter the 2010 season as the league's all-time winningest coach in league games having 107 conference games and is the second-straight CAA Football head coach to be honored by the AFCA.
Former Richmond, and current Virginia head coach, Mike London was named the 2008 AFCA National FCS Coach of the Year after he led the Spiders to the 2008 Division I National Championship.
Talley's award in 2009, coupled with the same honor in 1997, moves CAA Football's total to five AFCA National Coach of the Year honors. In addition to Talley and London, Mark Whipple won the award after leading Massachusetts to a National Championship in 1998 and James Madison's Mickey Matthews was named the National Coach of the Year honor following the Dukes' National Championship in 2004.
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