Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell named AP Coach of the Year. Chants are piling up awards
Coastal Carolina head football coach Jamey Chadwell has been named the Associated Press Coach of the Year, and is piling up awards in the aftermath of the Chanticleers’ historic season.
The AP honor is the fourth national coach of the year award for Chadwell, as he was also named the 2020 Walter Camp Coach of the Year, the Sporting News’ 2020 Coach of the Year and the 2020 CBS Sports/247Sports Coach of the Year.
He was also named the Paul “Bear” Bryant Group of 5 2020 Conference Coach of the Year, and is up for the national Bryant coach of the year honor, among others including the Home Depot Coach of the Year Award, which is selected by ESPN and ABC college football analysts and awarded on Jan. 7 during a college football awards show on ESPN.
Chadwell was also named the 2020 Sun Belt Coach of the Year and the 2020 Werner Ladder AFCA FBS Region 2 Coach of the Year. He is also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award as Coach of the Year, presented by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), and is a semifinalist for the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award.
He received 16 first-place votes and 88 points from the AP Top 25 panel to finish ahead of Indiana’s Tom Allen, the runner-up with 14 first-place votes and 66 points. Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell was third (5, 44), Alabama’s Nick Saban was fourth (8, 42), and San Jose State’s Brent Brennan finished fifth, giving Group of Five teams three of the top five spots in the voting.
Chadwell is the first Sun Belt Conference coach to win the AP award, which was established in 1988, and the third coach to earn it with a team from outside the Power Five leagues. Central Florida’s Scott Frost won in 2017 and TCU’s Gary Patterson won the first of his two AP awards with the Horned Frogs in 2009 when they were members of the Mountain West.
In his third year as the head coach at CCU, Chadwell, 43, led the Chants to the program’s first-ever Sun Belt Conference title and an 11-1 overall mark, including an 8-0 Sun Belt record, and the program’s first-ever FBS postseason bowl game in just its third season of eligibility after moving up from the FCS level.
Coastal fell 37-34 in overtime to No. 23 Liberty (10-1) in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl this past Saturday at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Coastal went undefeated in the regular season for the first time and earned national rankings for the first time, finishing the season ranked No. 9 in the AP Top 25 Poll, No. 11 in the Amway Coaches Poll and No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings, which are all Sun Belt records.
The Chants posted two wins over FBS top 25 nationally-ranked opponents – the first two in program history – and four wins over top 50 opponents.
The team earned 16 selections to the 2020 All-Sun Belt team, including 10 on the first team, and five of the conference’s six individual awards: Player and Freshman of the Year (quarterback Grayson McCall); Defensive Player of the Year (defensive end Tarron Jackson); Newcomer of the Year (cornerback D’Jordan Strong) and Coach of the Year (Chadwell).
Jackson and McCall were also named finalists for national awards.
Coastal extended Chadwell’s contract through 2027 earlier this month.
Jackson, Brewer honored
CCU redshirt senior defensive linemen Jackson and C.J. Brewer received AP All-America honors, as Jackson was named to the first team and Brewer the third team.
Jackson has also garnered All-America recognition from ESPN (first team), FWAA (first team) the Reese’s Senior Bowl (first team), Sporting News (second team) and CBS Sports/247Sports (second team) this postseason.
Jackson was tabbed the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year and earned All-Sun Belt first team honors for the second straight season. He led the team and was second in the Sun Belt in sacks with 8.5 this season and third in the league in tackles for a loss of yards with 14 despite seeing double-teams on more than 60 percent of his snaps, according to CCU athletics.
He was also tied for second in the Sun Belt with three forced fumbles and added 54 total tackles, 18 quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery. A three-time SBC Defensive Player of the Week this season, Jackson was also named a 2020 Bronko Nagurski Trophy finalist, a Bednarik Award semifinalist, and a William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist, and earned a spot on the Lott IMPACT Trophy and Ted Hendricks Award watch lists. He was also invited to the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl and was chosen to the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Brewer tied for second on the team and fourth in the Sun Belt with 6.5 sacks and was third on the team and eighth in the league with 11 tackles for loss. He was fifth on the team with 60 total tackles and also recorded six quarterback hurries, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.
He recorded a career-high 14 tackles to go along with three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in the win over Appalachian State to earn Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week honors. He also recorded three tackles for loss and two sacks in the season-opening win over Kansas and caught his first career touchdown pass in the game.
Off-field recognition
Jackson was honored for his work in the classroom, community and on the field as a second-team Senior CLASS Award All-American on Wednesday.
To be eligible for the Senior CLASS award, an FBS player must have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Jackson has worked with numerous charities and events over his time at Coastal including volunteering at events such as Tim Tebow’s “Night to Shine” Prom, Caring for Kindergartners, Black History Month Program, pumpkin drives, and Christmas events. He has also served at the Shepherd’s Table food shelter in Conway, “Be the Match” bone marrow drive on campus, Centenary United Methodist Church-Pumpkin sale, and “Trunk or Treat” at CCU, while also serving on the leadership team of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) at CCU.
The Aiken native earned a degree in mathematics in May.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 12:35 PM.
