Nick Saban makes Dodd Trophy watch list

By WVUA 23 Sports Reporter Juliet Brown

The watchlist for the 2023 Dodd Trophy is out and Alabama football coach Nick Saban made the list.

The award, which is given by the Bobby Dodd Foundation and Peach Bowl Inc., “honor(s) the FBS coach whose program represents three pillars of success: Scholarship, Leadership and Integrity.”

“The Dodd Trophy is the most coveted coach of the year award because it holds coaches to a higher standard of commitment beyond their team’s success on the field, but also to their involvement in the community and their student-athletes achievements in the classroom,” said Jim Terry, Chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation.

Saban won the Dodd trophy in 2014.

Of the 21 coaches on the preseason watch list, two come from the SEC: Saban and Arkansas’s Sam Pittman.

All of the coaches on the watch list have an Academic Progress Rate higher than 980. Saban’s APR of 997 is tied for the fourth highest, behind three coaches that have a score of 1000.

Saban is one of six coaches to previously win the award: North Carolina’s Mack Brown (2008), Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (2011), Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (2015), Utah’s Kyle Whittingham (2019), and Tulane’s Willie Fritz (2022).

“We are proud to recognize these men as great leaders in our sport who have consistently exemplified The Dodd Trophy’s three pillars… Both on and off the field, these coaches have shown what it takes to always strive for excellence and help push their student-athletes to be their very best,” said Gary Stokan, CEO & President of Peach Bowl Inc.

Coaches could be added or subtracted from the list midway through the season. Previous winners, members of the media, the Dodd family, and a College Football Hall of Fame member make up the panel that will decide the winner.

The winner of the Dodd Trophy will be announced the week of the Peach Bowl, Dec. 30 in Atlanta.