HOUSTON — Ole Miss head football coach Houston Nutt is a finalist for the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Coach of the Year award. The winner will be announced Jan. 15 at an awards dinner benefiting the American Heart Association at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston.

The eight finalists were selected by a committee consisting of current and past event chairmen, Bryant family representatives, NSSA representatives, college football sports analysts and former collegiate players and coaches. The winner is voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA).

The Bryant College Football Coach of the Year is the only college coaching award given after all the bowl games have finished. Other finalists include Mack Brown, Texas; Turner Gill, Buffalo; Mike Leach, Texas Tech; Chris Petersen, Boise State; Nick Saban, Alabama; Bob Stoops, Oklahoma and Kyle Whittingham, Utah.

Nutt was honored as SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and the AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year. In his first season in Oxford, Nutt immediately reversed the Rebels’ fortunes and became just the fifth Ole Miss coach to guide the Rebels to a bowl in his first season. The Cotton Bowl victory over Texas Tech completed a 9-4 campaign, marking the team’s best improvement from one season to the next since legendary Ole Miss Coach John Vaught’s debut in 1947.

This season was Nutt’s seventh with nine or more wins in his 16 years as a head coach. He earned SEC Coach of the Year accolades for the third time in his career and top Region coaching honors for the fifth time.