Auburn’s Gus Malzahn named AP coach of year

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AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Gus Malzahn inherited a demoralizedAuburn team that had just suffered through
the program’s worst season indecades with a stagnant offense and bullied defense.Like usual,the coach known
for fast-paced offensive play quickly went to work. Heled the second-ranked Tigers’ transformation into
SoutheasternConference champions and has them in the national championship game Jan.6 against No. 1 Florida
State.Malzahn’s quick work made him The Associated Press national coach of the year."It’svery
humbling," he said Monday. "Any time you get awards like this,it’s a team thing, as far as our
staff and our players. It’s been fun tobe a part of this year."Malzahn received 33 votes from AP Top
25college football poll voters to beat out Duke’s David Cutcliffe.Cutcliffe received 17 votes after leading
Duke (10-3) to its first10-win season. Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and Michigan State’s MarkDantonio each
received three votes.Malzahn is the second Auburncoach to win the award since it began in 1998, joining
Tommy Tuberville(2004), and the second coach to win it in his first season with a newteam. Maryland Ralph
Friedgen was AP coach of the year in 2001, hisfirst season with the Terrapins.It’s the fifth time an SEC
coach has won AP coach of the year.Auburn icon Bo Jackson likened Malzahn’s task to starting with an empty
lot upon his hiring in December 2012."He’s got to rebuild that house," said Jackson, the 1985
Heisman Trophy winner.Thefoundation was set with confidence and attitude, reinforced with amessage that it
was "a new day" for Auburn (12-1) after a 3-9 season in2012 that was the Tigers’ worst since 1952.
Even more jarring, they hadfailed to win an SEC game.It didn’t take the team long to adopt a goal of forging
the greatest turnaround in college football.The result was one of the biggest ever. Only Hawaii’s 8.5-game
turnaround from 1999-2000 matches Auburn’s one-year improvement."It’sa real tribute to our players that
they’ve bonded together," Malzahnsaid. "They’ve done everything our coaches have asked, and I
think theNo. 1 thing is we developed good relationships with our players. Wetrust our players, the players
trust our coaches and we’ve got eachothers’ backs."Malzahn’s hurry-up, no-huddle offense has
thrivedwith junior college transfer Nick Marshall at quarterback and tailbackTre Mason, a Heisman Trophy
finalist, behind a sturdy offensive line.Receiver Sammie Coates said the revival started "when we
really just bought into coach Malzahn’s plan.""Ourgoal at the beginning of the year was to have
the biggest turnaround incollege football," Coates said. "We knew the only way to do that was
toget better every single day. Tuesdays and Wednesdays (on game weeks)were big for us because those are our
work days and we got better. Webeat some teams that people thought we couldn’t beat."Theconfidence
boost was so dramatic that defensive end Dee Ford wonderedpublicly back in November, "Why not win it
all?" That seeminglyfar-fetched utterance followed a 45-41 road upset of Johnny Manzielthen-No. 7 Texas
A&M.It was the Tigers’ biggest win beforebeating defending national champion Alabama and, then,
Missouri in theSEC championship game. That followed a game-winning touchdown in thefinal seconds against
Mississippi State and a 35-21 loss to LSU afterfalling behind 21-0 in the first 18 minutes."The
MississippiState game, finding a way to drive the field and win that game in theend, said a lot about our
team," Malzahn said. "LSU, we had a chance toshut her down in a tough environment, and they kept
fighting."The pivotal game, though, was probably Texas A&M."Atthe time they were one of
the top teams in the country, one of thetoughest places to play," Malzahn said. "Our offense drove
the fieldwith under two minutes to score, and then we held the best player incollege football (Manziel) out
of the end zone on the last drive, whichnobody had done that up to that point."When we walked off that
field, we felt like we could play with anybody."___Follow John Zenor on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/jzenorCopyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.

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