December 16th, 2024 5:00pm
VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State head football coach Tremaine Jackson was named American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) National Division II Coach of the Year, the organization announced Monday.
Jackson becomes the third Blazer head coach to earn AFCA National Coach of the Year honors as former head coach Chris Hatcher was named in 2004, while David Dean earned the honor in both 2007 and 2012.
This season, Jackson has guided the Blazers to the NCAA Division II National Championship Game for the seventh time in program history when they battle Ferris State on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 2 p.m. ET at McKinney ISD Stadium in McKinney, Texas. The Blazers are seeking their fifth national title in football and tenth overall national championship as an athletic program. This will be the third meeting between VSU and Ferris State in the national championship game since 2018.
VSU enters the national championship game following a 35-21 win over Minnesota State at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium this past Saturday in the national semifinals. Jackson is 30-8 in his third season at the helm of the Blazers and has guided the team to a 13-0 record this season and the program's 11th Gulf South Conference title with a 6-0 mark. Jackson is 40-11 in five seasons of coaching overall between both VSU and Colorado Mesa.
The 13-0 record is the fifth time in program history the Blazers have won 13 or more games in a season. VSU finished with 13 wins in 2004 and 2007 winning the national championship both seasons, while winning 14 games in 2002 and 2018. The Blazers lost in the national title game in 2002 and won in 2018. Jackson earned GSC Co-Coach of the Year honors in 2024.
Along with Jackson, Indiana's Curt Cignetti (FBS), Stony Brook's Billy Cosh (FCS), Salisbury's Sherman Wood (Division III) and Keiser's Myles Russ (NAIA) earned the honor from the other levels of collegiate football.
The winners are selected by a vote of the Active AFCA members at four-year schools in the Association's five divisions. The AFCA has named a Coach of the Year since 1935. The AFCA Coach of the Year award is the oldest and most prestigious of all the Coach of the Year awards and is the only one chosen exclusively by coaches.
Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf, then of Northwestern, was named as the first AFCA Coach of the Year in 1935. One national winner was selected from 1935 through 1959. From 1960 through 1982, two national winners were selected — one representing the University Division and one from the College Division. From 1983-2005, four national winners were chosen.
In 2006, the AFCA started honoring an NAIA Coach of the Year, bringing the total to the five honorees we have today. Prior to 2006, the NAIA was a part of the AFCA's Division II membership category.
The current balloting procedure involves selection of 25 regional winners: five regional winners in each of the five divisions – FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA, who become finalist for national coach of the year. Following regional voting, five national winners – one from each division – are chosen.