Jan. 2, 2013
NEW HAVEN, CT (Walter Camp Football Foundation) – Brian Kelly, head coach of the undefeated and BCS National Championship Game bound Notre Dame Fighting Irish, has been named the Walter Camp 2012 Coach of the Year.
The Walter Camp Coach of the Year is selected by the nation’s 124 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors. Kelly is the first Notre Dame coach to receive the award.
Kelly has now been selected as coach of the year by four different organizations in the last month. These include Home Depot, FWAA/Eddie Robinson and the Associated Press in addition to Walter Camp.
Under Kelly’s direction, the top-ranked Fighting Irish (12-0) earned their first Discover BCS Bowl Championship Game appearance and will meet No. 2 Alabama (12-1) on January 7 in Miami.
It is Notre Dame’s first unbeaten regular season since 1988. Notre Dame’s 2012 season has been highlighted by victories over ranked teams at the time the Fighting Irish played them: Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford and Oklahoma.
As a team, Notre Dame leads the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 10.3 points per game, while ranking sixth in total defense, allowing 286.83 yards per contest. The Fighting Irish rank fourth in rushing defense (92.4 yards allowed per game).
Several Notre Dame players earned 2012 All-America accolades from the Walter Camp Foundation.
Senior linebacker Manti Te’o was a First Team honoree and was selected as the 2012 Walter Camp Player of the Year – the third defensive player to earn the award.
Three other Irish players – senior tight end Tyler Eifert, senior offensive lineman Zack Martin and sophomore defensive end Stephon Tuitt – were Second Team All-America honorees.
Kelly was hired as Notre Dame’s 29th coach on December 10, 2009. In three seasons, Kelly has a 28-10 (.733) and is headed for Notre Dame’s first national championship game appearance in 23 years.
Prior to his arrival in South Bend, Kelly was the head coach at three schools – Cincinnati (2007-09), Central Michigan (2004-06) and Grand Valley State (1991-2003).
At Cincinnati, Kelly led the Bearcats to an impressive 34-6 (.850) record and two straight Big East Conference titles and BCS bowl appearances. Kelly served three seasons at Central Michigan, registering a 19-16 overall record, including a 9-4 mark and a Mid-American Conference title in 2006.
His first head coaching job was at Grand Valley State, a Division II school in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. For 13 years, Kelly totaled a 118-35-2 (.767) record, highlighted by two NCAA Division III national championships (2002 and 2003).
In 22 seasons as a head coach, Kelly has an overall record of 199-67-2 (.746).
Born in Everett, Mass, Kelly is a 1983 graduate of the Assumption College and earned a B.A. in political science after earning four varsity letters (as a linebacker) and serving as a two-year captain. Kelly started his coaching career at his alma mater, serving four years as defensive coordinator and also coached the softball team.
Coach Kelly and Te’o, along with members of the 2012 Walter Camp All-America team, will be honored at the organization’s national awards banquet on Saturday, January 12, 2013 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.
In addition, the Foundation will recognize three individuals – former Nebraska head coach and Athletic director Tom Osborne, former NFL player and coach Herm Edwards and NFL All-Pro Derrick Brooks – with major awards.
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. Visit http://www.ncfaa.org.
Walter Camp Coach of the Year recipients
2012 – Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
2011 – Les Miles, LSU
2010 – Chip Kelly, Oregon
2009 – Gary Patterson, TCU
2008 – Nick Saban, Alabama
2007 – Mark Mangino, Kansas
2006 – Greg Schiano, Rutgers
2005 – Joe Paterno, Penn State
2004 – Tommy Tuberville, Auburn
2003 – Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
2002 – Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
2001 – Ralph Friedgen, Maryland
2000 – Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
1999 – Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
1998 – Bill Synder, Kansas State
1997 – Lloyd Carr, Michigan
1996 – Bruce Snyder, Arizona State
1995 – Gary Barnett, Northwestern
1994 – Joe Paterno, Penn State
1993 – Terry Bowden, Auburn
1992 – Gene Stallings, Alabama
1991 – Bobby Bowden, Florida State
1990 – Bobby Ross, Georgia Tech
1989 – Bill McCartney, Colorado
1988 – Don Nehlen, West Virginia
1987 – Dick MacPherson, Syracuse
1986 – Jimmy Johnson, Miami
1985 – Fisher DeBerry, Air Force
1984 – Joe Morrisson, South Carolina
1983 – Mike White, Illinois
1982 – Jerry Stovall, Louisiana State
1981 – Jackie Sherrill, Pittsburgh
1980 – Vince Dooley, Georgia
1979 – John Mackovic, Wake Forest
1978 – Warren Powers, Missouri
1977 – Lou Holtz, Arkansas
1976 – Frank R. Burns, Rutgers
1975 – Frank Kush, Arizona State
1974 – Barry Switzer, Oklahoma
1973 – Johnny Majors, Pittsburgh
1972 – Joe Paterno, Penn State
1971 – Bob Devaney, Nebraska
1970 – Bob Blackman, Dartmouth
1969 – Bo Schembechler, Michigan
1968 – Woody Hayes, Ohio State
1967 – John Pont, Indiana
–ND–