December 8, 2004

Steve Mullins Region Coach of the Year

WACO, Texas --- Arkansas Tech head football coach Steve Mullins has been named as the NCAA Division II Region 2 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

Mullins is one of five region winners voted upon by the AFCA membership. The others are Shippensburg's Rocky Rees (Region 1), Michigan Tech's Bernie Anderson (Region 3), Lindenwood's Pat Ross (Region 4) and Colorado School of Mine's Bob Stitt (Region 5).

The regional winners will be recognized at the AFCA Coach of the Year Dinner at the AFCA Convention on January 11 in Louisville, Ky. At that time, the AFCA will announced its four National Coach of the Year winners for I-A, IAA,
II-NAIA and III.

"What makes this award so special is that this is the only coach of the year award voted exclusively by the coaches themselves," AFCA executive director Grant Teaff said. "The winners are selected by the coaches they compete with and against on a daily basis."

This is Mullins' first AFCA regional coach of the year award. He led the Wonder Boys to a 10-2 record, a second place finish in the Gulf South Conference and a berth in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Mullins was also named as the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year.

It was Tech's first 10-win season in 33 years and only the fourth in the history of the school.

Mullins now has an eight-year career record of 52-35 at Tech.

This year's playoff appearance marked the second for a Mullins-coached team. He took the Wonder Boys to a 9-3 Gulf South Conference championship and a first-round berth in the national playoffs in 1999.

Rees led Shippensburg to a 10-2 record and a share of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title and a berth in the second round of the playoffs. He has a
93-73-1 record in 15 years at Shippensburg and an overall 20-year career record of 129-88-1.

Anderson took Michigan Tech to a 9-2 record this season, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the playoffs. He has an 18-year career record of 87-93 with the Huskies. This year's league title was the first-ever for Michigan Tech and the program posted nine wins for only the third time in its 82-year history.

Ross led Lindenwood to an 11-1 record, the Heart of America Conference title and a berth in the NAIA playoffs. He has a three-year career record of 25-8
at Lindenwood and Ottawa. At age 29, Ross is one of the youngest college football head coaches in America.

Stitt coached Colorado School of Mines to a 12-1 record, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the second round of the playoffs. He has a five-year record of 34-22 with the Orediggers and this year's league title was the first in school history and his .611 winning percentage is the best in school history.

The other division regional winners are as follows:

Division I-A: Virginia's Al Groh (Region 1), Auburn's Tommy Tuberville (Region 2), Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez (Region 3), Texas-El Paso's Mike Price (Region 4) and Utah's Urban Meyer (Region 5).

Division 1-AA: New Hampshire's Sean McDonnell (Region 1), Coastal Carolina's David Bennett (Region 2), Jacksonville State's Jack Crowe (Region 3), Southern Illinois' Jerry Kill (Region 4) and California Polytechnic's Rich Ellerson (Region 5).

Division III: Trinity's Chuck Priore (Region 1), Delaware Valley's G.A. Mangus (Region 2), Hardin-Simmons' Jimmie Keeling (Region 3), Carthage's
Tim Rucks (Region 4) and Concordia-Moorhead's Terry Horan (Region 5).

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