Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn won the Home Depot Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday, ESPN reported. Don't let the sponsorship distract you; it's the highest individual postseason award for a college coach.
The NCAA hands out twenty four total awards, including the Heisman, named after a variety of former players and current companies. Malzahn's win was probably one of its easiest choices.
He doesn't have the best record or the top ranking -- those belong to Jimbo Fisher and #1Florida State -- but his team played in FBS's toughest conference dominated by one of the best programs of all time, two-time defending champion Alabama. Malzahn's team won the league, beat the Tide, and qualified for the national title game in his first year as head coach after the previous year's team finished just 3-9 under former Home Depot winner and 2010 national champion, Gene Chizik.
Only former Miami Head Coach Larry Coker won the award during his first year, according to ESPN. Malzahn's Tigers also tied Hawaii for the largest one-season improvement in NCAA history: 8.5 games. Their dramatic turnaround means one lucky fan who before the season placed a $100 bet on the Tigers to win the championship (at 1,000 to 1 odds) has a chance at a five-figure payday.
"This is where I want to be," Malzahn told ESPN in reference to the rumors that continually circulate around successful college football coaches, no matter the program. (The phenomenon even extends to former college coaches; an ESPN analyst today speculated on Jim Harbaugh for the Texas job, which isn't even officially open). "I love Auburn. You start hearing rumors about this stuff. I didn't want our players or coaches or fans to wonder how I felt. I wanted to be here, and I'm one blessed guy to be the head coach of the Auburn Tigers."
The team's former offensive coordinator from 2009 to 2011 and winner of the top assistant award in 2010 was rewarded for his huge season with a six-year contract extension worth just under $4 million per year, according to ESPN.
A few less fortunate breaks and Jimbo Fisher would probably have gotten the award. The Tigers won close games all season, and probably should have lost against Georgia if not for an improbable, 50-yard tip catch with under 30 seconds to play that should have been an interception and a victory for the Bulldogs. But, when you're competing to play in one game against the rest of the FBS without a playoff system, you need a little bit of that magic.
