Academy football head coach named a finalist for award

  • Published
  • By Troy Garnhart
  • Athletic Communications
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFNS) --  Air Force Falcons football head coach Troy Calhoun was named one of four finalists for the inaugural Joseph V. Paterno Coach of the Year Award, announced by Maxwell Football Club president Ron Jaworski Dec. 6.

The other finalists are Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech, Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern and Chris Petersen of Boise State.

Calhoun brought the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy back to Air Force for the first time in eight years, beating both Army and Navy.

The award, the first of its kind, is designed to honor the spirit of Coach Paterno, whose longtime success on, and off, the field led to the creation of the award in his honor.
Through a nomination process, each current head coach has been evaluated since the summer based on his school's performance on the field, in the classroom and within the community.

"In what's become a labor of love, our committee spent the past four months searching for those individuals succeeding by Coach Paterno's high standards," said Rich Cirminello, the Maxwell Football Club's director of college awards. "We're thrilled that any one of this year's finalists would be a worthy recipient of the honor."

The formal announcement of the award will be made Dec. 18. The presentation of the award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club's Awards Dinner March 4, 2011, at the Harrah's Entertainment Complex in Atlantic City, N.J.