The AFCA Coach of the Year Award is given annually to college football coaches by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). Separate awards are presented at all levels of U.S. college football. The AFCA as a whole presents the award for the four divisions of NCAA football—Division I FBS, Division I FCS, Division II, and Division III—plus the NAIA. The AFCA's section for community and junior colleges presents an identical award to a head coach at a two-year institution. The award has had several different sponsors over the years, including Eastman Kodak Corporation, and thus also been named the Kodak Coach of the Year Award.
Winners
NCAA University Division / Division I-A/FBS Year Coach Team 1935 Northwestern 1936 Harvard 1937 Lafayette 1938 Carnegie Tech 1939 Iowa 1940 Stanford 1941 Notre Dame 1942 Georgia Tech 1943 Pacific 1944 Ohio State 1945 Indiana 1946 Army 1947 Michigan 1948 Michigan 1949 Oklahoma 1950 Princeton 1951 Stanford 1952 Michigan State 1953 Maryland 1954 UCLA 1955 Michigan State 1956 Tennessee 1957 Ohio State 1958 LSU 1959 Syracuse 1960 Minnesota 1961 Alabama 1962 USC 1963 Texas 1964 Arkansas Notre Dame 1965 UCLA 1966 Army 1967 Indiana 1968 Penn State 1969 Michigan 1970 LSU Texas 1971 Alabama 1972 USC 1973 Alabama 1974 Baylor 1975 Arizona State 1976 Pittsburgh 1977 Washington 1978 Penn State 1979 Ohio State 1980 Georgia 1981 Clemson 1982 Penn State 1983 Air Force 1984 BYU 1985 Air Force 1986 Penn State 1987 Syracuse 1988 West Virginia 1989 Colorado 1990 Georgia Tech 1991 East Carolina 1992 Alabama 1993 Wisconsin 1994 Nebraska 1995 Northwestern 1996 Arizona State 1997 Michigan 1998 Tennessee 1999 Virginia Tech 2000 Oklahoma 2001 Miami (FL) Maryland 2002 Ohio State 2003 USC 2004 Auburn 2005 Penn State 2006 Wake Forest 2007 Kansas 2008 Utah 2009 TCU 2010 Oregon 2011 LSU 2012 Notre Dame 2013 Duke 2014 TCU 2015 Clemson 2016 Colorado 2017 UCF 2018 Washington State 2019 LSU 2020 Indiana 2021 Cincinnati 2022 TCU 2023 Kalen DeBoer Washington 2024 Curt Cignetti Indiana2025Indiana
NCAA Division I-AA/FCS
Year Coach Team 1983 Southern Illinois 1984 Montana State 1985 Furman 1986 Georgia Southern 1987 Holy Cross 1988 Furman 1989 Georgia Southern 1990 Georgia Southern 1991 Youngstown State 1992 The Citadel 1993 Boston University 1994 Youngstown State 1995 Montana 1996 Columbia 1997 Villanova 1998 UMass 1999 Georgia Southern 2000 Georgia Southern 2001 Furman 2002 Western Kentucky 2003 Colgate 2004 James Madison 2005 Appalachian State 2006 Appalachian State 2007 Appalachian State 2008 Richmond 2009 Villanova 2010 Delaware 2011 Sam Houston State 2012 North Dakota State 2013 North Dakota State 2014 New Hampshire 2015 Jacksonville State 2016 James Madison 2017 Kennesaw State 2018 Maine 2019 North Dakota State 2020 VMI 2021 North Dakota State 2022 South Dakota State2023Greg GattusoAlbany2024Billy CoshStony Brook2025Steve EnglehartPresbyterian
NCAA College Division / Division II This includes NCAA Division II and NAIA from 1983 to 2005. Year Coach Team 1960 New Mexico State 1961 Florida A&M 1962 Wittenberg 1963 Wittenberg 1964 East Carolina 1965 UC Santa Barbara 1966 1967 Chattanooga 1968 New Hampshire 1969 Boston University 1970 Arkansas State 1971 1972 Delaware 1973 Wittenberg 1974 Central Michigan 1975 Wittenberg 1976 Akron 1977 Widener 1978 Baldwin–Wallace 1979 1980 Dayton 1981 1982 Southwest Texas State 1983 North Dakota State 1984 Troy State 1985 1986 North Dakota State 1987 Troy State 1988 North Dakota State 1989 Mississippi College 1990 North Dakota State 1991 Pittsburg State 1992 Jacksonville State 1993 North Alabama 1994 North Alabama 1995 North Alabama 1996 Northern Colorado 1997 Northern Colorado 1998 Northwest Missouri State 1999 Northwest Missouri State 2000 2001 North Dakota 2002 Grand Valley State 2003 Grand Valley State Carroll (MT) 2004 Valdosta State 2005 Grand Valley State 2006 Grand Valley State 2007 Valdosta State 2008 2009 Northwest Missouri State 2010 Minnesota–Duluth 2011 Wayne State (MI) 2012 Valdosta State 2013 Northwest Missouri State 2014 CSU Pueblo 2015 Northwest Missouri State 2016 Northwest Missouri State 2017 West Florida 2018 2019 2020 — No season due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 2022 Colorado Mines2023Paul SimmonsHarding2024Tremaine JacksonValdosta State2025Jim ClementsKutztown
NCAA Division III This includes NCAA Division III and NAIA from 1983 to 1995. Year Coach Team 1983 Augustana (IL) 1984 Augustana (IL) 1985 Augustana (IL) 1986 Augustana (IL) 1987 Wagner 1988 Ithaca 1989 Dayton 1990 Allegheny 1991 Ithaca 1992 1993 Mount Union 1994 Albion 1995 Wisconsin–La Crosse 1996 Mount Union 1997 Mount Union 1998 Mount Union 1999 Pacific Lutheran 2000 Mount Union 2001 Mount Union 2002 Mount Union 2003 Saint John's (MN) 2004 Linfield 2005 2006 Mount Union 2007 Wisconsin–Whitewater 2008 Mount Union 2009 Wisconsin–Whitewater 2010 Wisconsin–Whitewater 2011 Wisconsin–Whitewater 2012 2013 Wisconsin–Whitewater 2014 Wisconsin–Whitewater 2015 2016 Mary Hardin–Baylor 2017 2018 2019 2020 — No season due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 2022 2023 Curt Fitzpatrick Cortland2024Sherman WoodSalisbury2025Brad SpencerNorth Central (IL)
NAIA NAIA was included in the Division II and III groups until 2006 when it was broken into its own category. Year Coach Team 2006 Sioux Falls 2007 Carroll (MT) 2008 Sioux Falls 2009 Sioux Falls 2010 Carroll (MT) 2011 Saint Xavier 2012 2013 Grand View 2014 2015 Marian 2016 Saint Francis (IN) 2017 Saint Francis (IN) 2018 Morningside 2019 Morningside 2020 Lindsey Wilson 2021 Morningside 2022 Northwestern (IA)2023Doug SochaKeiser2024Myles RussKeiser2025Joel OsbornBenedictine
Junior college The California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) each had their own coach of the year honors until 2002 when they joined together to award the American Community College Football Coaches Association (ACCFCA) Coach of the Year Award. The NJCAA continues to award coach of the year honors in both their Division I and Division III levels (and previously when they operated without divisions) outside of the ACCFCA Coach of the Year Award. The NJCAA Coach of the Year award is awarded by the NJCAA Football Coaches Association. Year Coach Team 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 East Mississippi 2015 2016 Garden City 2017 2018 2019 2020 — No season due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 New Mexico Military 2022 2023 2024Hutchinson2025
Assistant Coach of the Year Award The Assistant Coach of the Year Award is presented to a deserving assistant coach in each of the four NCAA football divisions and the NAIA. The award was created to honor assistant coaches who excel in community service, commitment to the student-athlete, on-field coaching success and AFCA and professional organization involvement.