The players have been in the awards spotlight over the past couple of weeks, and even the assistant coaches for a brief bit, but now it’s the head coaches’ turn to get their semifinal shine on.
Wednesday, the Maxwell Football Club announced its 18 finalists for the 2018 George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award. Georgia’s Kirby Smart was the 2017 winner of the award, and he’s also, not surprisingly, one of the dozen-and-a-half semifinalists for this year’s honor.
All four head coaches of the four undefeated teams remaining are also represented -- UCF’s Josh Heupel, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, Alabama’s Nick Saban and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.
Nine of the 10 FBS conferences -- and a pair of football independents -- are included in the list of semifinalists, including the four from the SEC that are tops among any league. Among Power Fives, the Pac-12 and ACC have two each and the Big 12 and Big Ten landed one apiece.
The Group of Five accounts for six, with the AAC and Conference USA leading the way with two each. The MAC and Mountain West have one apiece, while the Sun Belt is the lone league shut out of this award.
Congratulations to our 2018 George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award Semifinalists! pic.twitter.com/xQymQXN4h1
— Maxwell Football (@MaxwellFootball) November 21, 2018