East Mississippi's Buddy Stephens tabbed 2014 ACCFCA National Coach of the Year

WACO, Texas – Head football coach Buddy Stephens continues to make history for the Lions of East Mississippi Community College.  On the heels of guiding EMCC to an unprecedented third NJCAA football championship in a four-year span, Stephens has become the first two-time recipient of the coveted American Community College Football Coaches Association (ACCFCA) Coach of the Year honor.  The announcement was made Thursday by the American Football Coaches Association.                

As selected by voting members of the ACCFCA affiliated with the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as the California Community College Athletic Association, Stephens will be presented the prestigious award at the American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year Dinner on Tuesday, Jan. 13, at the 2015 AFCA Convention in Louisville, Ky.

"It's an extraordinarily humbling feeling for me to receive this award because this is something that is voted on by your peers," said EMCC's Stephens, who was previously tabbed the 2011 ACCFCA National Coach of the Year.  "To me, it's a coaching staff of the year award, so I'm extremely honored to be able to share this award with our assistant coaches as a reflection of all of their hard work."

With a seven-year head coaching record of 68-10 (.872), Stephens guided the 2014 EMCC Lions to their third unbeaten (12-0) campaign in four years en route to establishing an all-time NJCAA standard with a third national title during an ongoing four-year period.  Having claimed previous national championships in 2011 and then again in 2013 with identical unblemished marks, EMCC successfully defended last year's national title by earning a 34-17 victory over second-ranked Iowa Western Community College, Dec. 7 in Biloxi, during the 2014 NJCAA Football Championship Game/Mississippi Bowl VII.     

Along with becoming the first NJCAA school since Butler (Kan.) Community College (2007-08 & 1998-99) to win back-to-back NJCAA football crowns, East Mississippi also collected the program's fourth Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State/NJCAA Region 23 gridiron championship in six seasons this past year.  With a dominant composite division mark of 39-3 (.929) dating back to 2008, the 2014 Lions also secured their sixth MACJC North Division regular-season title in a seven-year span under Stephens' leadership.

For his coaching accomplishments at East Mississippi Community College, Stephens is a four-time NJCAA Region 23 Coach of the Year selection as well as a two-time recipient of the Junior College National Coach of the Year honor as awarded by American Football Monthly magazine.  The Huntsville, Ala., native also received the 2011 George Sekul Award from the All-American Football Foundation.

"This award has everything to do with everyone associated with East Mississippi Community College.  I could not think of a better place to work," continued Stephens, who preceded his first collegiate head coaching stint with a seven-year stay as an assistant coach at his junior college alma mater, Pearl River Community College.  "This honor just doesn't happen without the tremendous backing from our school administration along with the outstanding support of the entire EMCC faculty and staff."

A former standout offensive lineman at PRCC and subsequently at Delta State University, Stephens previously became the first ACCFCA Coach of the Year recipient from a Mississippi-based school since his former mentor, Tim Hatten, received the honor after guiding the Pearl River Wildcats to the 2004 NJCAA football title.  Recent winners of the ACCFCA's national coaching award have included Stephens' most recent national championship game coaching opponents, Bert Williams of Georgia Military College and Iowa Western's Scott Strohmeier, who were tabbed by their coaching peers in 2013 and 2012, respectively.

The American Community College Football Coaches Association (ACCFCA) is an umbrella coaches association formed in 2002 between the National Junior College Football Coaches Association and the California Community College Football Coaches Association.  Prior to that, both organizations selected their own respective coach of the year recipients.

In 2000, the American Football Coaches Association invited the organizations to meet at the AFCA Convention.  Three national goals were set: 1) to form a national community college football coaches' association; 2) to study the possibility of a national championship game between the two organizations; and 3) to elect, yearly, a national coach of the year and to have that coach recognized by the AFCA.  Their initial goal has been accomplished, and, in 2002, the American Community College Football Coaches Association selected its first national coach of the year with Michael White of Reedley College (Calif.) earning the honor.  The following year, Butler (Kan.) Community College's Troy Morrell was the recipient of the 2003 ACCFCA Coach of the Year award.