Grass Earns Third-Straight AFCA Region Coach of the Year
12/6/2016 9:00:00 AM | Football
COMPLETE RELEASE FROM THE AFCA
WACO, Texas – For the third-straight year, John Grass has been named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Region Coach of the Year, the organization announced on Tuesday.
The third-year head coach of the Jacksonville State football team and reigning AFCA FCS National Coach of the Year, Grass continues his unprecedented start to his career by being voted the top coach in his region by his peers for the third time.
Two weeks after becoming the first person to win the Roy Kidd Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year Award outright for three-straight years, he was recognized on a larger scale again. The honor comes after he and the Gamecocks (10-2, 7-0 OVC) polished off their third-straight unbeaten conference season and earned the No. 3 national seed in the FCS Playoffs.
JSU becomes the first team to win three-straight outright OVC titles since Eastern Kentucky won four in a row from 1981-84 and is the first team in league history to go unbeaten and untied in conference play in three-straight seasons.
Grass and the Gamecocks led the OVC in both total offense and total defense for the second-straight season as he extended the best start to a head coaching career in JSU and OVC history and the second-best in FCS history. His 10-2 record in 2016 gives him a 33-6 record in three seasons at JSU, with no regular season losses to non-FBS opponents.
His 39-game start is the best in JSU history and the second-best the FCS has ever seen, while his 23-0 record in OVC play has the Gamecocks with the nation's longest conference winning streak. Jax State has now won 24-straight league games, best in all of Division I and ahead of Alabama's 17-straight SEC wins in second place.
Grass' only three regular season losses while in charge at JSU have come on the road at Michigan State, Auburn and LSU, while his only three losses to FCS foes have come to ranked foes in postseason play. Overall, he is 10-3 against ranked FCS opponents.
Grass came to JSU as the offensive coordinator in 2013 before being promoted to head coach in 2014. Prior to 2013, JSU had never had 5,000 yards of total offense in a season. Under Grass' leadership, the JSU offense has amassed over 5,000 yards in each of the last four years with three seasons of over 6,000 yards and one over 7,000.
The Gamecocks have not just focused on the offensive side of the ball, with the 2016 JSU defense finishing the regular season ranked second nationally in total defense and first in opponents third-down conversion percentage.
Grass and his players have dominated the OVC in wins and losses and in all-conference nods. The Gamecocks have placed 52 players on the All-OVC teams over the past three seasons and had nine All-Americans in 2014 and 2015.
Grass' Gamecocks have won the OVC's Team Academic Award for Football in each of his first two seasons, giving them the largest percentage of players on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll (3.25 GPA or higher) among all OVC football teams. He was also nominated for the AFCA AllState Good Works Team in 2016 for his efforts in the Community.
Grass and the other Region Coach of the Year recipients now become finalists for the organization's National Coach of the Year Award that will be announced on January 10.
WACO, Texas – For the third-straight year, John Grass has been named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Region Coach of the Year, the organization announced on Tuesday.
The third-year head coach of the Jacksonville State football team and reigning AFCA FCS National Coach of the Year, Grass continues his unprecedented start to his career by being voted the top coach in his region by his peers for the third time.
Two weeks after becoming the first person to win the Roy Kidd Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year Award outright for three-straight years, he was recognized on a larger scale again. The honor comes after he and the Gamecocks (10-2, 7-0 OVC) polished off their third-straight unbeaten conference season and earned the No. 3 national seed in the FCS Playoffs.
JSU becomes the first team to win three-straight outright OVC titles since Eastern Kentucky won four in a row from 1981-84 and is the first team in league history to go unbeaten and untied in conference play in three-straight seasons.
Grass and the Gamecocks led the OVC in both total offense and total defense for the second-straight season as he extended the best start to a head coaching career in JSU and OVC history and the second-best in FCS history. His 10-2 record in 2016 gives him a 33-6 record in three seasons at JSU, with no regular season losses to non-FBS opponents.
His 39-game start is the best in JSU history and the second-best the FCS has ever seen, while his 23-0 record in OVC play has the Gamecocks with the nation's longest conference winning streak. Jax State has now won 24-straight league games, best in all of Division I and ahead of Alabama's 17-straight SEC wins in second place.
Grass' only three regular season losses while in charge at JSU have come on the road at Michigan State, Auburn and LSU, while his only three losses to FCS foes have come to ranked foes in postseason play. Overall, he is 10-3 against ranked FCS opponents.
Grass came to JSU as the offensive coordinator in 2013 before being promoted to head coach in 2014. Prior to 2013, JSU had never had 5,000 yards of total offense in a season. Under Grass' leadership, the JSU offense has amassed over 5,000 yards in each of the last four years with three seasons of over 6,000 yards and one over 7,000.
The Gamecocks have not just focused on the offensive side of the ball, with the 2016 JSU defense finishing the regular season ranked second nationally in total defense and first in opponents third-down conversion percentage.
Grass and his players have dominated the OVC in wins and losses and in all-conference nods. The Gamecocks have placed 52 players on the All-OVC teams over the past three seasons and had nine All-Americans in 2014 and 2015.
Grass' Gamecocks have won the OVC's Team Academic Award for Football in each of his first two seasons, giving them the largest percentage of players on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll (3.25 GPA or higher) among all OVC football teams. He was also nominated for the AFCA AllState Good Works Team in 2016 for his efforts in the Community.
Grass and the other Region Coach of the Year recipients now become finalists for the organization's National Coach of the Year Award that will be announced on January 10.
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