BATON ROUGE — A week after winning the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, LSU coach Nick Saban will be up for another honor on Thursday as the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award will be handed out in Houston.
The awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. at the Hilton Americas in downtown Houston.
Saban, who has already been named the Associated Press National Coach of the Year, led the Tigers to the school’s first national title in 45 years with a 21-14 win over Oklahoma in the Nokia Sugar Bowl. The Tigers finished the season with a 13-1 overall mark.
In four years with the Tigers, Saban has guided LSU to a 39-13 overall mark and to a pair of Southeastern Conference titles. Saban also led the Tigers to their second national title in football, joining Paul Dietzel, who coached LSU to the 1958 crown.
Saban, who was a finalist for the Bear Bryant College Football Coach of the Year Award following the 2001 season, is joined by Tommy Bowden (Clemson), Lloyd Carr (Michigan), Pete Carroll (Southern Cal), Terry Hoeppner (Miami-Ohio), Paul Johnson (Navy), Steve Kragthorpe (Tulsa), Urban Meyer (Utah), and Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) as the nine finalists for the award.
The winner of the award will be determined in a vote by members of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.