PHILADELPHIA — UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor on Thursday was named one of five finalists for the George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award, which is presented yearly by the Maxwell Football Club.
Traylor, the 2021 Conference USA Coach of the Year, joins Baylor's Dave Aranda, Cincinnati's Luke Fickell, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh and Michigan State's Mel Tucker as finalists for the award.
Finalist voting will open on Friday, Dec. 30, and run until Jan. 11. Eligible voters include FBS head coaches and sports information directors, Maxwell Football Club members and selected national media. The winner will be announced on Jan. 19 and the formal presentation of the Munger Award will take place at the 85th Maxwell Awards Gala which will be held on March 18 at Harrah's Atlantic City Resort.
In addition to being named the league's coach of the year, Traylor also was voted the 2021 Werner Ladder AFCA FBS Regional Coach of the Year for Region 4, a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award and one of five finalists for the AFCA National Coach of the Year.
A member of the Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards Coach of the Year watch list, Traylor led UTSA to a record-setting campaign in 2021. The Roadrunners won their first 11 games, were nationally ranked for the first time in school history and captured the program's first league title. UTSA capped the season with its second straight and third overall bowl appearance in the Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl.
UTSA opened the 2021 campaign with a school-record 11 consecutive victories and were ranked as high as No. 15 nationally during the season. The Roadrunners secured their first C-USA West Division crown with a 34-31 win over UAB on Nov. 20 before capturing the first league title in their 11-year history with a 49-41 home triumph over WKU in the C-USA Championship Game on Dec. 3.
Last fall, Traylor became the first UTSA head coach to win his first three games and to notch seven victories in his debut season. He led the Roadrunners to a 7-5 record — including a 5-2 league ledger — and a berth in the First Responder Bowl.
Traylor boasts more than 30 years of coaching experience, including a highly successful 15-year career as head coach at Gilmer High School, where he led his hometown Buckeyes to three state championships and two state runner-up finishes and posted a 175-26 (.871) record. Named the third head coach in UTSA history on Dec. 10, 2019, Traylor previously was the associate head coach and running backs coach at Arkansas (2018-19) and SMU (2017) after two seasons at Texas serving as associate head coach for the offense and receivers coach in 2016 and special teams coordinator and tight ends coach in 2015.
The Maxwell, Chuck Bednarik and George Munger Awards are members of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 25 awards boast over 800 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.
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