If the dog days of summer are flying by, then that means college football is beginning to come into view on the horizon. The month of July is full of conference media days and the releases of various award watch lists, which always leads to some fun discussion to scratch the college football itch for many. One of the latest award watch lists to be released to the public is the Dodd Trophy, which is awarded to college football’s coach of the year by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and the Peach Bowl.
Despite being a well-respected head coach, Penn State’s Matt Campbell was not included on this year’s Dodd Trophy watch list. Why?
It is not for a lack of accomplishment as a head coach, of course. Campbell managed to build a consistently competitive program at Iowa State, a program historically unfamiliar with winning seasons. And despite the delay in reaching the end game, Penn State’s hiring of Campbell was well received by college football analysts. Still, Campbell is not on the watch list for the Dodd Trophy?
It turns out there is a very simple explanation for Campbell’s omission from the watch list. He is simply ineligible for the award.
According to the Dodd Trophy’s outlined criteria for eligibility, all coaches in their first year with a new program are ineligible to win the Dodd Trophy. Coaches become eligible to appear on the watch list and win the award beginning in their second season in charge of their current program.
As for this year’s watch list, the Big Ten has the most coaches appearing on the watch list. The Big Ten coaches on the Dodd Trophy watch list are Bret Bielema (Illinois), Curt Cignetti (Indiana), Ryan Day (Ohio State), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Jedd Fisch (Washington), Dan Lanning (Oregon), and Lincoln Riley (USC).
Penn State has had a Dodd Trophy winner twice. Legendary head coach Joe Paterno is one of two coaches all-time to win the Dodd Trophy twice. Paterno won the award in 1981 and in 2005. Kansas State‘s Bill Snyder is the only other two-time winner, doing so in 1998 and 2012.
Cignetti of Indiana was the recipient of the Dodd Trophy in 2025. A handful of current Big Ten coaches have also won the award. Ferentz won the award in 2015. Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell won the award in 2021 when coaching at Cincinnati. Michigan State’s Pat Fitzgerald won the award while coaching Northwestern in 2020. Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham won the award at Utah in 2019.
You can see the full watch list via The Dodd Trophy’s official website.
This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Why Penn State’s Matt Campbell is ineligible for coach of the year
