On Monday, Penn State head football coach James Franklin was one of 21 college coaches named to the 2024 Dodd Trophy Watch List.
The Dodd Trophy is given yearly to a head coach of a team, “who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity – the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd’s coaching philosophy,” that according to The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation.
Another aspect to this prestigious award is the teams academic progress rate (APR), graduation success rate (GS), commitment to service and charity in the community, as well as projected success for this upcoming season.
For the past academic calendar year, Penn State scored at 959 (APR), making it eligible for James Franklin to qualify for this award.
The entire list of coaches named to the 2024 Dodd Trophy Watch List includes- Jeff Brohm (Louisville, Mario Cristobal (Miami, Fla.), Ryan Day (Ohio State), Dave Doeren (NC State), Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame), Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), Josh Heupel (Tennessee), Brian Kelly (LSU), Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Chris Kleiman (Kansas State), Lance Leipold (Kansas), Mike Norvell (Florida State), Brent Pry (Virginia Tech), Lincoln Riley (USC), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Kirby Smart (Georgia), Dabo Swinney (Clemson) and Kyle Wittingham (Utah).
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is still only one of two head coaches ever to win this award twice, along with Bill Snyder of Kansas State. Paterno won the award back in 1981 and 2005.
James Franklin and his team open the 2024 season on August 31st, when they travel to Morgantown, West Virginia to take on Neal Brown and West Virginia.
The Nittany Lions then play the next four games at Beaver Stadium with non-conference games against Bowling Green (September 7th), Kent State (September 21st), Illinois (September 28th) and with their new conference member UCLA (October 5th).
