ATLANTA (Sept. 3, 2020) – The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl today released the preseason watch list for the 2020 Dodd Trophy. This year’s list includes 13 of the nation’s top college football coaches representing teams who are scheduled to play during the fall season.
The Dodd Trophy, college football’s most coveted national coaching award, celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity – the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd’s coaching philosophy.
The watch list was created through a selection process by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, taking into consideration each program’s graduation rate, commitment to service and charity in the community, projected success for the 2020 season and Academic Progress Rate (APR). Coaches in the first year with their current team are ineligible to receive The Dodd Trophy and only those coaches who have played during the fall season will be eligible for this year’s award.
“An unprecedented season calls for an unprecedented preseason watch list,” said Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “When considering candidates for this year’s Dodd Trophy, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation made the decision to align with the College Football Playoff’s timeline and only consider coaches who will play during the fall season. That said, we still would like to recognize coaches from other conferences who met all of the criteria and under normal circumstances would be included on our list.”
The 2020 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List:
| Coach | School | Conference |
| Mack Brown | North Carolina | ACC |
| Luke Fickell | Cincinnati | AAC |
| Tom Herman | Texas | Big 12 |
| Josh Heupel | UCF | AAC |
| Brian Kelly | Notre Dame | ACC* |
| Gus Malzahn | Auburn | SEC |
| Bronco Mendenhall | Virginia | ACC |
| Dan Mullen | Florida | SEC |
| Ed Orgeron | LSU | SEC |
| Lincoln Riley | Oklahoma | Big 12 |
| Nick Saban | Alabama | SEC |
| Kirby Smart | Georgia | SEC |
| Dabo Swinney | Clemson | ACC |
The Dodd Trophy would also like to recognize the following coaches from conferences scheduled to play in the spring. These nine coaches all met the same criteria as the 13 coaches named to the preseason watch list, but are not eligible to win the award this season considering The Dodd Trophy will be awarded in December before their seasons are completed.
| Coach | School | Conference |
| Paul Chryst | Wisconsin | Big Ten |
| Mario Cristobal | Oregon | Pac-12 |
| Ryan Day | Ohio State | Big Ten |
| Herm Edwards | Arizona State | Pac-12 |
| P.J. Fleck | Minnesota | Big Ten |
| James Franklin | Penn State | Big Ten |
| Jim Harbaugh | Michigan | Big Ten |
| Bryan Harsin | Boise State | Mountain West |
| Kyle Whittingham | Utah | Pac-12 |
More…