EMCC's Buddy Stephens presented ACCFCA National Coach of the Year award at AFCA Convention in Louisville, Ky.
Head football coach Buddy Stephens of the three-time NJCAA National Champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College was one of six coaches recognized this week at the American Football Coaches Association Convention held in Louisville, Ky.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Head football coach Buddy Stephens of the three-time NJCAA National Champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College was one of six coaches recognized this week at the American Football Coaches Association Convention held in Louisville, Ky. National Coach of the Year honors were presented in all five four-year college divisions plus the junior college level during Tuesday night's AFCA Coach of the Year Dinner held at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
In becoming the first two-time recipient of the coveted American Community College Football Coaches Association (ACCFCA) Coach of the Year honor, Stephens guided the 2014 EMCC Lions to their unprecedented third NJCAA national football championship in four years with another undefeated (12-0) season. Having claimed previous national titles in 2011 and again in 2013 with identical unblemished marks, East Mississippi successfully defended its 2013 NJCAA championship by claiming a 34-17 victory over Iowa Western Community College last month (Dec. 7) in Biloxi during the NJCAA Football Championship Game/Mississippi Bowl VII.
With a seven-year head coaching record of 68-10 (.872), Stephens was also named the 2014 Spalding® NJCAA Football Coach of the Year, as presented by the NJCAA Football Coaches Association, after leading the EMCC Lions to back-to-back NJCAA football crowns. The Huntsville, Ala., native is a four-time NJCAA Region 23 Coach of the Year selection as well as having twice been tabbed the Junior College National Coach of the Year as awarded by American Football Monthly magazine. Stephens, who was a standout offensive lineman at Pearl River Community College and subsequently at Delta State University, also received the 2011 George Sekul Award from the All-American Football Foundation.
Along with becoming the first NJCAA school since Butler (Kan.) Community College (2007-08 and also in 1998-99) to win back-to-back NJCAA gridiron titles, East Mississippi collected the program's fourth Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State/NJCAA Region 23 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.
As selected by a vote of the active members within the American Football Coaches Association's five divisions, the 2014 AFCA National Coach of the Year recipients among four-year schools were: TCU's Gary Patterson (Football Bowl Subdivision); Sean McDonnell of the University of New Hampshire (Football Championship Subdivision); John Wristen from Colorado State University-Pueblo (Division II); University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's Lance Leipold (Division III); and Mark Henninger of Marian University (NAIA).
The AFCA Coach of the Year award is the oldest and most prestigious of all the Coach of the Year awards and is the only one chosen exclusively by the coaches themselves.
The AFCA Convention annually attracts coaches from all levels of the football coaching profession. With approximately 7,000 coaches in attendance at this week's four-day convention held in Louisville, the yearly meetings and coaching clinics served as the culmination of the 2014 college football season.