Auburn Tigers coach Gene Chizik has been named the Home Depot Coach of the Year, which I’m terribly embarrassed to say I predicted way back before Cam Newton took the field in a regulation Tigers game. Chizik’s offensive coordinator, Gus Malzahn, was also named the Frank Broyles Award winner, given to the nation’s top assistant.
Decatur native Broyles is most famous for his work at Arkansas, but he also played and coached at Georgia Tech. /tangent
Chizik helped steer Auburn to its first undefeated regular season since … well, only since 2004. But this time the Tigers are playing in the BCS National Championship Game after going 5-7 just two years ago in Tommy Tuberville’s last season.
There’s also the Bobby Dodd Award, named for the legendary Tech head coach, which strives to be more of an all-around deal that acknowledges excellence in the classroom and community as well. It isn’t handed out until Dec. 31 at halftime of each Chick-fil-A Bowl, though I can guarantee you Chizik won’t be winning it, for reasons.