I-A COACH OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

With two strong seasons at Bowling Green and two more extraordinary seasons at Utah, Meyer’s immediate success as a head coach led to two more head coaching offers from two major powers this fall, with Meyer eventually picking Florida over Notre Dame. That’s what happens when you go 38-8 in your first four seasons as a head coach. After 15 seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State, Illinois State, Colorado State and Notre Dame, Meyer engineered the top turnaround in NCAA Division I-A football with a six-win improvement in his first season at BGSU in 2001. He followed that with a 9-3 record and a move to Utah, where a 10-2 record tied for the best record in school history. Meyer, 40, and the Utes climbed to yet another level in 2004, going 11-0, winning the Mountain West once again, rising to No. 5 in the AP poll and No. 6 in the coaches poll, busting their way into the Bowl