Last Days to Vote: Fan Voting For Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award Concludes Saturday, December 4

BOSTON, Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Only a few days remain in open voting for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, a unique honor recognizing college football coaches for their sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence, both on and off the field.  Fans can visit www.coachoftheyear.com to vote once per day every day through this Saturday, December 4, to vote for the coach they feel best exemplifies the qualities of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award.  With only the top 15 fan vote recipients being eligible for further consideration, fan voting makes all the difference in whether or not coaches qualify for the next round.  Ten Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) coaches and five coaches each from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II and Division III will be named finalists on December 13.

"We have some great races going across the four divisions this season and every vote is going to count in determining the qualifiers for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year finalists," said Greg Gordon, Liberty Mutual senior vice president, Consumer Marketing.

Additionally, only two weekends of FBS games remain for the Liberty Mutual Insurance "Million Dollar Game," celebrating the importance of on-field discipline as a mark of great coaching.  If any regular season college game (FBS, FCS, Division II or Division III) is played penalty-free by both teams, Liberty Mutual Insurance will donate $1 million - $500,000 on behalf of each school – to a charity selected by the schools.  So far this season, 25 teams including Ohio State, Ole Miss and the U.S. Naval Academy have played penalty-free, but no two teams have played a head-to-head penalty-free game.

Key penalty-related statistics from the 2010 college football regular season include:

• So far this season, 25 college football teams have played penalty-free, but no two teams have combined to do so while playing head-to-head
• Wisconsin (ranked #4 in the AP poll and #5 in the BCS) has the fewest penalties in the country with 35
• Navy and Notre Dame came the closest to playing a "Million Dollar Game" when they combined for one penalty on October 23. Both teams are in the top 15 in the country in fewest penalties this season
• The five least-penalized FBS teams are a combined 37-21 (.627 winning percentage)
• A service academy (Navy, Army, Air Force) has been in the top three of fewest penalties per year every year the past decade

About Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year

Now in its fifth year, the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award has donated nearly $1 million to more than 60 charities and scholarship funds on behalf of thirteen previous winners.  Each winning coach, selected by a combination of online fan voting and a committee of college football media and College Football Hall of Fame players and coaches, receives $50,000 to donate to the charities of their choice and a $20,000 grant to his school's alumni association, providing further positive impact on their school and local community.

To be eligible for consideration for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year, an individual must be a head football coach at an NCAA college or university at any division level.  Following an initial fan-only voting phase, 15 finalists will be selected and then again voted upon using the following weight: College Hall of Fame, 55 percent; media, 25 percent; and fans, 20 percent.  

All winners will be announced on January 10 in Scottsdale, Ariz., in advance of college football's championship game that evening.  

Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Timeline

• September 14 – December 4: Voting opened to all fans at www.coachoftheyear.com.  The top 15 coaches with the most fan votes in each of the four college football divisions, FBS (formerly Division I-A), FCS (formerly Division I-AA), Division II, and Division III, advance to an evaluation process using an objective scoring model endorsed by the College Football Hall of Fame.  The scoring model follows strict criteria, which highlight the importance of coaching excellence, sportsmanship, integrity, academic excellence and community commitment. Visit the website for full scoring criteria.
• December 13:  Finalists are announced, including 10 coaches from the FBS and five coaches each from the FCS, Division II, and Division III.
• December 13-28:  Finalist voting opened to all fans at www.coachoftheyear.com.  Votes also are cast by two select panels – one representing the College Football Hall of Fame and comprised of select members of the media.  Members of these panels include Archie Manning, Lou Holtz, Vince Dooley, Ronnie Lott, Archie Griffin and as well as additional historic football coaches and players; and media members such as Kirk Herbstreit, Stewart Mandeland Tim Brando.
• January 10:  The 2010 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award winners will be announced in Phoenix, live on CBS College Sports (check local listings).

Million Dollar Game Details

The "Million Dollar Game" is a unique opportunity to celebrate college football teams across Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), Division II and Division III who play penalty-free for an entire 2010 regular season game.  If a regular season game is completed in which neither team commits an on-field penalty, Liberty Mutual Insurance will donate a total of $1 million (up to $500,000 per team) to a charity selected by each school.  If more than one game is completed penalty-free, the million-dollar donation will be split among all winning schools' charities.  Pioneering the pursuit of sportsmanship, discipline and responsibility on the field, the quest for the penalty-free game is taking place for the first time during the 2010 season in conjunction with the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, which honors the coaches who give back to their teams, schools and communities, on and off field, with sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence.

About Liberty Mutual Group

"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group (Libertymutualgroup.com) is a diversified global insurer and fifth-largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2009 direct written premium.  Liberty Mutual Group ranks 71st on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations, based on 2009 revenue.  The company has over 45,000 employees located in more than 900 offices throughout the world.

The eighth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual (libertymutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile, homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual life insurance.  The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 12,000 companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.

About the National Football Foundation & the College Football Hall of Fame

Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 121 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame, Play It Smart, the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association, the NFF Gridiron Clubs of New York City, Dallas, and Los Angeles, and annual scholarships of more than $1.3 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. The NFF presents the MacArthur Bowl, the Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings.

SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance