SEATTLE — Kalen DeBoer was named The Associated Press coach of the year on Tuesday after leading Washington to a 13-0 record, the Pac-12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff in just his second year in charge.
The Huskies will face Texas in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 with a spot in the CFP championship game on the line. In his two seasons, the Huskies are 23-2, leaving behind the bitter memory of a 4-8 record in 2021 that led to a change and brought DeBoer to Washington.
“It’s all about the people around me. This is a team award,” DeBoer said. “When you win, I tell the players this, you win football games, you’re going to get recognized and more awards are going to get shared. I’m fortunate enough to kind of be the figurehead of our team and receive these cool awards. Just really blessed.”
DeBoer received 30 of 52 first-place votes and had 113 points overall from AP Top 25 poll voters to easily outpace Mike Norvell of Florida State (57 points). Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri (38) and Jedd Fisch of Arizona (28) were the only other coaches to receive multiple first-place votes.
DeBoer is the first Washington coach named the AP coach of the year and just the third Pac-12 coach to win the award in the last 25 years, joining Mike MacIntyre (Colorado, 2016) and Chip Kelly (Oregon, 2010).
MISSISSIPPI: Coach Lane Kiffin greed to a contract extension but the school didn’t disclose details.
Kiffin led the 11th-ranked Rebels (10-2) into the Peach Bowl against No. 10 Penn State (10-2) on Dec. 30 and to the program’s first two 10-win regular seasons. He has guided the Rebels to four consecutive bowl berths and two New Year’s Six bowl appearances in the past three years. The Rebels have lost only two of their last 23 home games.
MARYLAND: Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa is skipping the Dec. 30 Music City Bowl game against Auburn, closing the book on a record-setting career in which he helped the Terrapins return to respectability under Coach Michael Locksley.
PENN STATE: The school hired former Indiana coach Tom Allen as defensive coordinator.
FLORIDA STATE: Defensive end Jared Verse became the third team member to opt out of the Dec. 30 Orange Bowl against Georgia.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
CONNECTICUT: The No. 17 Huskies are headed to Canada for a game Wednesday against Toronto Metropolitan University, which is not an NCAA team but a member of the Canadian organization U Sports.
Rick Nixon, an NCAA spokesman, said the game will be recognized as a regular-season contest and the statistics will count. The only caveat, he said, it because TMU (10-0) is not an NCAA Division I opponent, a win or loss won’t be calculated in UConn’s NET rankings for consideration in postseason seeding.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
CENTRAL FLORIDA 74, MAINE 51: Jaylin Sellers and Darius Johnson scored 13 points each to lead the Knights (7-3) over the Black Bears (8-5) at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida, on Monday night.
Marchelus Avery added 12 points and six rebounds for UCF, which held Maine to 34.4 percent from the field and 1 of 19 from beyond the arc.
Logan Carey put up nine points and seven rebounds for Maine. Peter Filipovity had eight points and eight rebounds, and Quion Burns logged seven points and four rebounds.
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