Preseason poll comes out Thursday
Throughout season, coaches will have say on where teams belong
The votes are in, so it’s almost time to unveil the 2017 preseason college football Amway Coaches Poll.
This year’s voting panel includes the four active college football coaches who have won national titles — Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher. The preseason poll will be released at noon ET Thursday at ncaaf .usatoday.com and appear in Friday’s USA TODAY.
The Amway Coaches Poll, in its 27th season being administered by USA TODAY Sports, features experience-rich coaches who bring up-close perspective with their votes every week.
The panel of 65 coaches in the Bowl Subdivision is put together by the American Football Coaches Association. The panel is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches who have indicated to the AFCA their willingness to participate.
The first regular-season Amway Coaches Poll will be released Sept. 5 after Week 1 games. That is a Tuesday because of a Labor Day game. Subsequent polls are released Sundays, except for the final poll, which comes the day after the national championship game.
“The Amway Coaches Poll, powered by USA TODAY Sports, has for over two decades represented the kickoff of college football,” said Todd Berry, executive director for the AFCA. “The coaches volunteer to be voting members of the poll and, I know from my personal experience, take great pride weekly in acknowledging their feelings towards that week and how they rank our teams. We appreciate USA TODAY publishing our poll and the credibility that both the USA TODAY and the AFCA bring to the weekly excitement that is college football.”
All voters are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The board for the 2017 season: Major Applewhite, Houston; David Bailiff, Rice; David Beaty, Kansas; Bret Bielema, Arkansas; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; John Bonamego, Central Michigan; Terry Bowden, Akron; Jeff Brohm, Purdue; Matt Campbell, Iowa State; Rod Carey, Northern Illinois; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Butch Davis, Florida International; Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; DJ Durkin, Maryland; Shawn Elliott, Georgia State; Larry Fedora, North Carolina; Luke Fickell, Cincinnati; Jimbo Fisher, Florida State; P.J. Fleck, Minnesota; James Franklin, Penn State; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech; Bryan Harsin, Boise State; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tom Herman, Texas; Doc Holliday, Marshall; Mark Hudspeth, Louisiana-Lafayette; Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech; Joey Jones, South Alabama; Mike Leach, Washington State; Lance Leipold, Buffalo; Tim Lester, Western Michigan; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Rocky Long, San Diego State; Mike MacIntyre, Colorado; Gus Malzahn, Auburn; Derek Mason, Vanderbilt; Urban Meyer, Ohio State; Jeff Monken, Army; Philip Montgomery, Tulsa; Scottie Montgomery, East Carolina; Jim Mora, UCLA; Dan Mullen, Mississippi State; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Barry Odom, Missouri; Gary Patterson, TCU; Mike Riley, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, Arizona; Nick Rolovich, Hawaii; Nick Saban, Alabama; Tony Sanchez, UNLV; Mike Sanford Jr., Western Kentucky; Scott Satterfield, Appalachian State; Bill Snyder, Kansas State; Frank Solich, Ohio; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Mark Stoops, Kentucky; Tyson Summers, Georgia Southern; Dabo Swinney, Clemson; Matt Wells, Utah State; Mark Whipple, Massachusetts; Kyle Whittingham, Utah; Bobby Wilder, Old Dominion; Everett Withers, Texas State.