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PROVO, Utah (December 4, 2006) - The American Football Coaches Association today announced BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall has been named the AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year.
Mendenhall led the Cougars to a 10-2 overall record, including a perfect 8-0 mark in league play to collect the team's first outright Mountain West Conference title since the 2001 season.
Throughout the season, BYU climbed the national polls by winning nine straight games to finish the regular season. As a result, the Cougars earned top-20 rankings in the Associated Press Top-25, the USA Today Coaches Poll, the Harris Interactive Poll and the BCS rankings. The Cougars' nine-game win streak marks the third longest active streak in the country and is only the seventh time in BYU football history the Cougars have recorded at least nine consecutive wins in a single season.
Under Mendenhall's direction, the Cougars led the MWC and ranked fourth in the nation in passing offense, averaging 319.3 yards per game. The Cougars also led the league and ranked fifth in the country in total offense, producing an average 458.6 yards per contest. BYU also led the Mountain West and ranked sixth nationally in scoring offense, averaging 36.7 points per game. The BYU offense finished the regular season ranked second nationally in passing efficiency, posting a rating of 171.16.
Defensively, the Cougars ranked fourth nationally and led the league in turnover margin, averaging 1.17 turnovers per game. BYU also made tremendous strides defensively, ranking 19th in the nation in pass efficiency defense (107.84) and 16th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 15.3 points per game.
BYU has outscored its opponents during the season by an average 36.7 to 15.3 (+21.4). More impressively, the Cougars posted 138 first-quarter points and held opponents to just 15 points in the opening quarter of play throughout the season.
From his first day as a head coach, Mendenhall has stressed the importance of winning at home. After finishing 3-3 in Provo last season, Mendenhall and the Cougars registered a perfect 6-0 record at home in 2006. Not only did the 2006 Cougars finish the season as the most dominant team in the nation, but also they finished as the most dominant home team in BYU Football history. BYU averaged 47.2 points per game at LaVell Edwards Stadium while holding opponents to just 12.0 points per contest. The +35.16 margin not only led the nation in home scoring margin, but also set a new BYU record, eclipsing the old mark of +34.2 set in 1979. LSU finished the season behind the Cougars in 2006, posting a +31.9 home-field scoring margin.
Region 5 includes 19 different schools from both the Pac-10 and the Mountain West Conference. Other division honorees include Wake Forest's Jim Grobe (Region 1), Arkansas' Houston Nutt (Region 2), Michigan's Lloyd Carr (Region 3) and Boise State's Chris Petersen (Region 4).
The AFCA began recognizing district coaches of the year following the 1960 season. In 1983, the award was changed to recognize regional winners instead of district winners.
