Swinney among nine finalists

Dabo Swinney of national champion Clemson headlines the list of nine finalists for the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year award to be presented Wednesday night.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony beginning at 8 p.m. at Toyota Center.

The other finalists: Paul Chryst (Wisconsin), P.J. Fleck (Western Michigan), James Franklin (Penn State), Clay Helton (Southern California), Dana Holgorsen (West Virginia), Mike MacIntyre (Colorado), Nick Saban (Alabama) and Bob Stoops (Oklahoma).

Swinney, who led the Tigers to their first title in 35 years with a 35-31 win over Alabama in Monday night’s College Football Playoff championship game, won the award last year.

Since the award was first presented in 1986, Boise State’s Chris Petersen (2006 and 2009) is the only twotime winner.

This year’s group of finalists includes three coaches who had turnaround seasons. Under Franklin, Penn State won nine straight and the Big Ten title for the first time since 2008. After a 1-3 start, Helton, a former assistant at the University of Houston in the late 1990s, led the Trojans to nine straight wins to end the season. Colorado had one of the biggest turnarounds in college football, going from

4-9 to 10-4 and the Pac-12 South title. McIntyre was named AP coach of the year last month. Nine times the winner of the AP award has gone on to win the Bryant Award, including each of the last three years.

Fleck led Western Michigan to a 13-1 record. After the season, he left to become head coach at Minnesota.

Chryst led the Badgers to double-digit wins for the second year in a row and the Big Ten West title. Holgorsen led West Virginia to its first 10-win season since 2011. Oklahoma won the Big 12 for the 10th time under Stoops.

Barry Alvarez, the former coach at Wisconsin, is this year’s recipient of the Paul “Bear” Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award. The winningest coach in school history, Alvarez went 11974-4 from 1990-2005.