ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) -- Head football coach Josh Heupel has been named the First Year Coach of the Year by the Football Writers Association of America. Heupel's honor was announced as part of the FWAA Freshman All-America team release Monday.
In his first season at UCF, Heupel led the Knights to a 12-1 mark, a second consecutive American Athletic Conference Championship and the Knights' third berth in a New Year's Six bowl game.
In addition to this honor, Heupel is also a finalist for the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award as the coach of the year in college football. He is joined by Bill Clark (UAB), Brian Kelly (Notre Dame), Jeff Monken (Army-West Point), Nick Saban (Alabama), Dabo Swinney (Clemson) and Jeff Tedford (Fresno State) as finalists for that honor. Heupel was also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award, as voted upon by the FWAA.