HOUSTON, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards committee of the American Heart Association selected its Bryant College Football Coach of the Year finalists. The winner will be voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA) and named live at an awards dinner benefiting the American Heart Association on Jan. 15, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston.
The selection committee consists of current and past event chairmen, Bryant family representatives, NSSA representatives, college football sports analysts and former collegiate players and coaches. The Bryant College Football Coach of the Year is the only college coaching award given after all the bowl games have finished.
Also during the January event, Oklahoma legend and Super Bowl Champion, Coach Barry Switzer, will receive the Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes excellence in coaching on and off the field during a career, allowing recipients to take their place in history alongside legends such as Bryant. Recent Lifetime Achievement recipients include Tom Osborne, Glenn "Bo" Schembechler, Jack Pardee and Lou Holtz.
The 2008 Paul Bear Bryant College Football Coach of the Year Finalists, in alphabetical order: Mack Brown,
Mack Brown, University of Texas - The winner of the 2005 Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year award, Brown is one of a handful of coaches in the history of college football to lead two separate programs to a Top Five
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