Five coaches from the SEC have been named to the 2020 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn is one of them.
The watch list was released on Thursday and Malzahn finds his name alongside Nick Saban, Ed Orgeron, Kirby Smart and Dan Mullen as representatives from the conference.
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.
Interestingly enough, Boise State’s Chris Petersen won the award in 2010 over Gene Chizik while Malzahn wasn’t eligible during his first year in 2013. The award instead went to Duke’s David Cutcliffe.