The Associated Press has been on quite the roll the last couple of days.
On Tuesday, the AP went against the grain and rightly named Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh as its national player of the year.
Today, the wire service shied away from the Nick Saban‘s and Brian Kelly‘s and Chip Kelly‘s of the coaching world and named a sideline boss from a non-automatic qualifying conference as it’s coach of the year.
This time the against-the-grain choice was TCU’s Gary Patterson, who led the Horned Frogs to a perfect 12-0 mark and a spot in a BcS bowl game.
“I’m really kind of humbled by the whole thing,” Patterson told the AP in a telephone interview. “The best way I know how to deal with it is to put my nose down and keep getting ready for Boise.”
Patterson finished with 21 first-place votes, slightly ahead of former Cincinnati and current Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and his 19 first-place votes.
2008 winner Nick Saban finished third, followed by Oregon’s Chip Kelly.
If I had a vote, I’d split it between June Jones and Jim Harbaugh.
Congratulations to Gary Patterson; if I had a vote, I would give it either to him or Temple’s Al Golden.