November 19, 1998

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame football coach Bob Davie has been named one of the 10 finalists for the 1998 Walter Camp Foundation/Street & Smith’s Coach of the Year Award.

Davie, who has led Notre Dame to an 8-1 record and #10 national ranking (Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today) to date, joins nine other coaches as frontrunners in early voting:

• Kansas State’s Bill Snyder (10-0)
• Tennessee’s Philip Fulmer (9-0)
• Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez (9-1)
• Tulane’s Tommy Bowden (9-0)
• Texas’ Mack Brown (7-3)
• Air Force’s Fisher DeBerry (9-1)
• Arkansas’ Houston Nutt (8-1)
• UCLA’s Bob Toledo (9-0)
• Arizona’s Dick Tomey (10-1)

Initiated in 1967, the coach of the year award recognizes an individual who is an “effective and compassionate coach, who prepares his players not only for game competition but also on how to deal with the complex and demanding challenges of their non-athletic endeavors.”

The 10 coaches are the leaders in the early voting by Division I-A coaches and sports information directors in balloting being conducted by the Walter Camp Foundation.

The award will be presented at the 32nd annual Walter Camp National All-America Award Dinner February 27, 1999, at the Yale University Commons.

Davie, who has led the Irish to seven straight victories, has produced a second-year record that compares favorably to previous Irish head coaches. With two regular-season games remaining for Davie’s team in ’98, only Knute Rockne and Dan Devine (with nine each) have won more games in their second seasons than the Irish this fall.