First-year South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers was voted the winner of the Eddie Robinson Award, presented by Stats Perform for the FCS Coach of the Year.
SDSU, the defending national champs, finished the regular season 11-0. The Jackrabbits beat seven ranked teams, five of them by at least three scores, en route to the No. 1 playoff seed.
Rogers is a former SDSU linebacker and was a 10-year assistant coach, including serving as the defensive coordinator most recently. He took over for the legendary John Stiegelmeier, who announced his retirement after the national championship win.
Rogers will be honored at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Banquet on Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas.
Finalists were voted on by a panel of voters. Votes were due the weekend of the FCS playoffs first round.
2023 Eddie Robinson Award Voting Results
Following is a breakdown of the voting results. A first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place vote four points, a third-place vote three points, a fourth-place vote two points and a fifth-place vote one point. The final number is the combined point total.
1. Jimmy Rogers, South Dakota State: 16-8-8-2-4-144
2. Greg Gattuso, UAlbany: 9-10-11-6-0-130
3. Bobby Hauck, Montana: 10-12-7-3-1-126
4. Bob Nielson, South Dakota: 8-7-9-3-4-105
5. Willie Simmons, Florida A&M: 3-1-4-5-5-46
6. Chris Wilkerson, Eastern Illinois: 2-2-4-5-4-44
7. John Troxell, Lafayette: 0-5-1-6-6-41
8. Clay Hendrix, Furman: 1-2-5-5-2-40
9. Scotty Walden, Austin Peay: 2-2-0-6-8-38
10. Trei Oliver, North Carolina Central: 0-1-3-7-3-30
11. Mark Ferrante, Villanova: 0-2-1-2-6-21
12. Todd Stepsis, Drake: 1-1-0-4-2-19
13. Larry Scott, Howard: 1-2-0-0-3-16
14. Pete Rossomando, Lamar: 2-0-0-0-1-11
15. Todd Whitten, Tarleton: 0-1-1-0-2-9
16. Tre Lamb, Gardner-Webb: 1-0-0-1-1-8
17. Tim Murphy, Harvard: 0-0-1-1-0-5
18. Danny Rocco, VMI: 0-0-1-0-1-4
19. Tim Rebowe, Nicholls: 0-0-0-0-2-2
20. Jerry Schmitt, Duquesne: 0-0-0-0-1-1