Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Ballot

Among the awards on which Football Writers Association of America members vote is the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year. Choosing between the five finalists was no easy task. Each was worthy in his own rite, but one stood out and earned this blogger’s vote.

Dabo Swinney had a stocking full of hot coals last holiday season — presumably, the coals warming his seat. A year later, sweet the holidays bring the gift of sweet oranges.

Like a desperate resolution’er, the changing of the calendar from 2010 to 2011 brought hope for salvation in the form of youth, but not the symbolic Baby New Year. Rather, Swinney signed one of the most impressive recruiting classes in college football.

Still, merely signing a mother lode of talent is no guarantee of a pressured coach retaining his position. Oftentimes a coach will have to watch his talent come to fruition while a different staff reaps the benefits. Swinney needed to orchestrate a masterful season with his young team to gain the Clemson fan base’s confidence.

Swinney did just that, as the Tiger Kiddie Corps won the ACC for the first time since 1991, thereby earning an Orange Bowl berth. No longer should Swinney be concerned about his job security. No, the concern of this off-season should be how do these Tigers get to next season’s BCS Championship — a very legitimate prospect with Tajh Boyd, Andre Ellington and Sammy Watkins returning to lead Clemson once more.

The pinnacle of college football is Swinney’s aspiration for those Tigers. Les Miles has reached it with Tigers of a different stripe. No one questioned the championship caliber talent returning to Baton Rouge for the ’11 campaign. Confidence in Miles’ ability to elevate that talent to its potential was less emphatic.

In fact, calls for Miles’ ouster were more commonplace than one might expect of a coach with a national championship. So renowned were Miles’ clock management blunders, those who didn’t follow college football joked about them. Well, Miles found a surefire method of addressing such gaffes: devise a game plan and motivate your team enough that it builds such sizable leads, fourth quarters don’t matter.

Miles’ inclusion on the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award ballot might seem perplexing, but sometimes the most difficult teams to coach are those expected to win. Miles managed a bumper crop of NFL talent while avoiding ego clashes, addressed off-field issues that could have been high hurdles in past seasons and has the Tigers playing better football than anyone in the nation.

A match-up with Mike Gundy and his former program at Oklahoma State isn’t in the cards, and that’s a shame because Gundy’s outstanding coaching job has cultivated one of the best offenses in college football history. Gundy lost Dana Holgorsen to West Virginia last off-season, which generated questions about the future of the Cowboy offense. Not only did OSU not regress, it got better. The 11-1 regular season finish is a program best, and the conference title is OSU’s first since the Big 8 days.

OSU is not a program steeped in tradition. Michigan is. Ann Arbor is a pressure cooker, which makes Brady Hoke‘s 10-2 debut all the more impressive. Undoubtedly, Hoke inherited a stocked cupboard — remember what I wrote about Swinney and other coaches getting to see recruits’ results when administrations and fans lose patience? But merely inheriting talent is no guarantee of victory.

Hoke surrounded himself with great football minds, most notably defensive coordinator Greg Mattison who oversaw a dramatic turnaround in the Wolverine defense. As he had in stops at Ball State and San Diego State, Hoke vastly exceeded expectations. A bowl game was largely considered UM’s benchmark considering Hoke would need some rebuilding time.

He’s bowling alright: at the Sugar Bowl, the Wolverines’ first BCS appearance since 2006.

Any of the four could have win the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, and this voter would take no umbrage. But the coach who received my vote defied so much logic, it was impossible to cast a ballot for anyone else. In his second tenure at Kansas State, Bill Snyder discovered the Fountain of Youth.

The adage about teaching old dogs new tricks applied to Snyder. His Wildcats won 10 games with some old tricks: a strong defensive presence that bent, but didn’t break, and a smashmouth, ball control offensive style that produced an unlikely top tier quarterback and top 12 final regular season ranking.

K-State was snubbed for a BCS bid, and Collin Klein did not receive a Heisman presentation invite, but raise your hand if either was a thought that, if suggested pre-season, would have elicited anything other than laugh. Me either.

The Wildcats’ success is more than just a surprise. It’s a statement that in this ever-evolving sport, there’s still room for an old school perspective that transcends anything else a coach has done this season.