Maxwell Football Club Announces University of Michigan Head Coach Brady Hoke as Collegiate Coach of the Year

The Maxwell Club, the oldest football club in America, announced today that University of Michigan Head Coach Brady Hoke has been selected as the Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year for the 2011 season.

Hoke was named the 19th head coach in University of Michigan football history on Jan. 11, 2011. A former assistant coach at U-M (1995-2002), Hoke led the Wolverines to an 11-2 record (6-2 Big Ten) and Allstate Sugar Bowl victory in his first season. Hoke had previous head coaching stints at San Diego State from 2009-10, where he earned a 13-12 record, and his alma mater, Ball State, where he went 34-38 from 2003-08. Collectively, Hoke is 58-52 in nine seasons as a head coach.

The Big Ten Conference's coaches voted Hoke as the inaugural recipient of the Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year award, while the Big Ten media named him the Dave McClain Coach of the Year. He was also named a finalist for three other national Coach of the Year awards: Bear Bryant, Eddie Robinson and Liberty Mutual. He is the third Michigan coach to be honored by the Maxwell Football Club joining Lloyd Carr in 1996 and (Bo) Schembechler in 1989.

Maxwell Football Club Executive Director Mark Wolpert commented, "Coach Hoke has engineered a tremendous turnaround in the Michigan football program in just one year and it was obvious that his team improved each week. It is quite an accomplishment to compile an 11-2 record playing a rigorous Big 10 schedule in his first year at the helm. Coach Hoke has set the tone for a high degree of future success for the Michigan program."

He will be honored Friday, March 2, 2012 at the 75th Maxwell Club National Awards Gala which will be held at the Harrah's Atlantic City Resort. Also receiving awards at this event will be; Aaron Rodgers - Green Bay Packers (Bert Bell Award), Mike McCarthy - Green Bay Packers (Earle Greasy Neale Award), Andrew Luck - Stanford University (Maxwell Award), Tyrann Mathieu - LSU (Chuck Bednarik Award), Jim Clements - Delaware Valley College (Tri-State Coach of the Year), Mohamed Sanu - Rutgers (Tri-State Player of the Year), Mike Tirico - ESPN Monday Night Football (Harrah's Broadcaster Award), and Archie Manning - National Football Foundation (Francis "Reds" Bagnell Award).