NOTES AP taps Kelly as coach of year
Oklahoma assistant dodges suspension; Wisconsin set to hire Utah State’s coach.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly has been voted Associated Press coach of the year after leading the Fighting Irish to a spot in the BCS championship game.
No. 1 Notre Dame is 120 and will play No. 2 Alabama for the national title on Jan. 7 in Miami. The Fighting Irish are playing for their first championship since 1988.
Kelly received 25 votes from the AP college football poll panel. Penn State’s Bill O’Brien was second with 14 votes. Stanford’s David Shaw (four), Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin (three), Kansas State’s Bill Snyder (two) and Alabama’s Nick Saban (one) also received votes.
Kelly is the first Irish coach to win the award, which started in 1998.
Wisconsin: Wisconsin reportedly will hire Utah State’s Gary Andersen to replace Bret Bielema, who left the Badgers to take the Arkansas job. The school is expected to introduce Andersen at a news conference today, but a snowstorm might change those plans.
Andersen, 48, just completed his fourth season at Utah State. The Aggies finished 11-2 with a bowl victory over Toledo and won the Western Athletic Conference.
Oklahoma: Twitter messages sent to high school players violated rules and nearly resulted in a one-game suspension for co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The NCAA initially wanted to suspend Norvell for one game, but the university successfully appealed. He sent nine Twitter messages Feb. 21 to six prospects who were high school juniors. Six of the tweets contained what OU deemed to be “written offers of financial aid to juniors, which was prior to the permissible date in which an institution can provide written offers of aid to prospects.”
Oklahoma State: Florida State will play OSU on Aug. 30, 2014, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. FSU had been looking for neutralsite games that would bring in extra revenue.
Stanford: Coach David Shaw agreed to a contract extension that will keep him with his alma mater beyond the two years left on his remaining deal. Terms, including the years, were not announced by the school.
Clemson: Starting cornerback Bashaud Breeland will miss the Chickfil-A Bowl because of a groin injury. He will have surgery today.
Missouri: Safety Ka’Ra Stewart was dismissed from the team after he was arrested and charged with marijuana possession for the second time in two months.
Penn State: Bill O’Brien was named coach of the year by the Maxwell Football Club.
Illinois: Defensive tackle Akeem Spence will skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft.
FCS: The NCAA announced a three-year extension to keep its FCS title game in Frisco, through at least 2015.
Western Illinois: The school hired MinnesotaDuluth’s Bob Nielson as head coach, replacing Mark Hendrickson.