Ryan Day Among 21 Coaches on Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List

Ryan Day is a preseason nominee for a national coach of the year award.

Day is one of 21 coaches on the preseason watch list for the Dodd Trophy, which was announced Monday by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation.

The Dodd Trophy “celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity – the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd's coaching philosophy.”

Day is one of four Big Ten coaches on the watch list along with Penn State’s James Franklin, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz and USC’s Lincoln Riley. Coaches in their first year with their current program are not eligible to win the award.

Day makes the watch list for the fifth straight year as Ohio State enters the season with national championship aspirations on the field all while posting a perfect multi-year Academic Progress Rate of 1000.

The full list of nominees with their team’s single-year Academic Progress Rate scores, as included in the Dodd Trophy’s release:

Jeff Brohm, Louisville (982 APR)
Mario Cristobal, Miami (1000 APR)
Ryan Day, Ohio State (1000 APR)
Dave Doeren, N.C. State (984 APR)
Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri (997 APR)
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (993 APR)
James Franklin, Penn State (959 APR)
Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame (1000 APR)
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (965 APR)
Josh Heupel, Tennessee (965 APR)
Brian Kelly, LSU (977 APR)
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss (993 APR)
Chris Klieman, Kansas State (1000 APR)
Lance Leipold, Kansas (1000 APR)
Mike Norvell, Florida State (997 APR)
Brent Pry, Virginia Tech (990 APR)
Lincoln Riley, USC (997 APR)
Steve Sarkisian, Texas (997 APR)
Kirby Smart, Georgia (972 APR)
Dabo Swinney, Clemson (997 APR)
Kyle Whittingham, Utah (971 APR)

Florida State’s Mike Norvell is the reigning winner of the award. Other previous winners of the award who are on this year’s watch list as candidates to win it for a second time are Dabo Swinney (2011), Kirk Ferentz (2015), Brian Kelly (2018) and Kyle Whittingham (2019).

Jim Tressel (2002) is Ohio State’s only previous winner of the Dodd Trophy, which has been awarded annually since 1976.