Football 12.6.22

Hatcher Named AFCA Region 2 Coach Of The Year

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford head football coach Chris Hatcher was named AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year, the association announced on Tuesday.

Hatcher led the Bulldogs to their first outright Southern Conference championship in program history with a 10-1 regular season. The Bulldogs' lone loss of the season came on the road at defending FBS national champion Georgia. Samford earned the No. 6 overall seed for the NCAA playoffs, which is the highest in school history before tallying the first playoff victory for the Bulldogs since 1991.

The head Bulldog is in his eighth season at Samford and passed the great Pat Sullivan earlier this season for the most wins by a Bulldog coach with 51.

This is the third time that Hatcher has been named an AFCA Region Coach of the Year with the two previous awards coming from his time at Valdosta State during the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

The AFCA will announce the 2022 National Coaches of the Year winners in FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA on Monday, January 9. The Regional winners in each division are finalists for National Coach of the Year.

The AFCA began recognizing district coaches of the year following the 1960 season. The awards were established the same year Eastman Kodak agreed to sponsor the AFCA Coach of the Year award. Prior to 1960, the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain had sponsored the program, which recognized one national Coach of the Year.

The AFCA first recognized eight district winners in each of two divisions: university and college. In 1972, a ninth district was added in each division. In 1983, the award was changed to recognize regional winners instead of district winners. The number of divisions was also increased from two to four and five regional winners were selected in each division. This resulted in a more equitable selection process and better represented the make-up of the membership. At the same time, the new system increased the number of honorees from 18 to 20. In 2006, the AFCA Division II Award was split into separate Division II and NAIA divisions, giving us the 25 winners we now recognize.

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