Watch List for 2009 Paul "Bear" Bryant Award Announced

BYU's Bronco Mendenhall and TCU's Gary Patterson among candidates for Coach of the Year honor

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Oct. 28, 2009

HOUSTON - The Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards committee of the American Heart Association has selected its Bryant Watch List for the 2009 College Football Coach of the Year. BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall and TCU head coach Gary Patterson are among the 20 coaches named to the list.

Since taking over the BYU program in 2005, Mendenhall has guided the Cougars to four straight bowl games and two outright Mountain West Conference championships. His 44-15 (.746) record over that span ranks eighth nationally among active Football Bowl Subdivision coaches. BYU is 6-2 overall this season and had been ranked in the Top 25 nationally for 29 consecutive weeks before falling out of this week's polls.

Patterson is in his ninth season as the TCU head coach, and his 8 0-27 (.748) record ranks seventh nationally among active FBS coaches. The Horned Frogs have won at least 10 games in five of the last seven seasons, claiming one Mountain West crown during that span, and participating in eight bowl games under Patterson. No. 6 TCU is currently 7-0 and one of only seven undefeated teams remaining in the nation. The Frogs have spent 19 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 polls.

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham was the 2008 recipient of the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award after guiding the Utes to a perfect 13-0 season, capped off by a 31-17 win over Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and a No. 2 ranking in the final Associated Press poll. Whittingham is the first coach to receive the Bryant Award in the 10-year history of the Mountain West Conference. Air Force's Fisher DeBerry earned the honor in 1985, while BYU's LaVell Edwards was the 1984 winner.

Listed in alphabetical order, the following coaches have been named to the 2009 Bryant Coach of the Year Watch List:

Robb Akey, University of Idaho
Mack Brown, University of Texas
Pete Carroll, University of Southern California
Kirk Ferentz, University of Iowa
Al Golden, Temple University
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State University
Paul Johnson, Georgia Institute of Technology
Brian Kelly, University of Cincinnati
Chip Kelly, University of Oregon
BRONCO MENDENHALL, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
Urban Meyer, University of Florida
Les Miles, Louisiana State University
Joe Paterno, Penn State University
GARY PATTERSON, TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
Chris Petersen, Boise State University
Nick Saban, University of Alabama
Randy Shannon, University of Miami
Bill Stewart, West Virginia University
Kevin Sumlin, University of Houston
Dave Wannstedt, University of Pittsburgh

A committee that consists of current and past event chairmen, Bryant family representatives, National Sportscasters & Sportswriters Association representatives, college football sports analysts and former collegiate players and coaches selected the watch list.

Bryant College Football Coach of the Year finalists will be announced later in December and attend an awards dinner in Houston on Jan. 14, 2010. The winner will be announced live that evening. The winner of the Bryant College Football Coach of the Year is voted on by member of the National Sportscasters & Sportswriters Association and is the only college coaching award voted on after all bowl games are played.

The Bryant Awards honors excellence in coaching while raising funds to fight heart disease and stroke, the nation's No. 1 and No. 3 killers. Bryant himself suffered a heart attack prior to his death in 1983. Funds raised benefit research, community education and outreach programs of the AHA. For more information, visit www.heart.org/bryantawards.