Big East Conference football individual awards


The Big East Conference gave five football awards at the conclusion of every season. The awards were first given in 1991 following the conference's first football season, and last given in 2012 before the conference was restructured as the American Athletic Conference. The five awards included Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Special Teams Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Recipients were selected by the votes of the conference's eight head coaches.
Award recipients included Heisman Trophy winners, NFL first-round draft picks, and NFL All-Star selections. The Miami Hurricanes were the most successful team through the school's tenure with the conference from 1991 to 2004, winning six awards for offensive players, seven for defense, four for special teams, three for Rookie of the Year, and six for Coach of the Year. Every conference member received at least two awards.
Donovan McNabb of Syracuse is the only player to win more than two awards; he was named Rookie of the Year in 1995 and Offensive Player of the Year in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech, Dennis Erickson of Miami, and Brian Kelly of Cincinnati were each Coach of the Year three times.

Offensive Player of the Year

The Offensive Player of the Year was awarded to the player voted most-outstanding at an offensive position. The first two awards were given to quarterback Gino Torretta of the University of Miami. In 1992, Torretta was a unanimous selection, the first of only two players to receive that distinction as of 2012. The other unanimous selection was running back Jordan Todman of Connecticut in 2010. There have been three ties: in 1996, 2001, and 2002, and a three-way tie in 2001. Besides Torretta, quarterbacks Ken Dorsey of Miami and Pat White of West Virginia have both been awarded twice; Dorsey's awards in 2001 and 2002 were both ties. Donovan McNabb was selected three times and became the second overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. Miami has received the most awards, six before leaving the conference in 2004. Only South Florida and Temple have no offensive winners.
Of the 27 winners, there were 15 quarterbacks, eight running backs, three wide receivers, and one tight end. Nine seniors, seven juniors, nine sophomores, and two freshmen were honored.

Winners

*Unanimous selection
†Co-Player of the Year
Player Denotes the number of times the player has been selected

SeasonPlayerSchoolPositionClass
1991MiamiQB
1992* MiamiQB
1993Boston CollegeQB
1994PittsburghRB
1995RutgersTE
1996†Virginia TechQB
1996†SyracuseQB
1997 SyracuseQB
1998 SyracuseQB
1999Virginia TechQB
2000†PittsburghWR
2000†MiamiWR
2000†Virginia TechRB
2001†Boston CollegeRB
2001†MiamiQB
2002† MiamiQB
2002†MiamiRB
2003PittsburghWR
2004West VirginiaQB
2005LouisvilleQB
2006West VirginiaQB
2007 West VirginiaQB
2008ConnecticutRB
2009PittsburghRB
2010ConnecticutRB
2011CincinnatiRB
2012LouisvilleQB

Winners by school

Defensive Player of the Year

The Defensive Player of the Year award was given 26 times, with ties in 1991, 2001, 2009, and 2011. Of the 26 winners, 16 were defensive linemen. Seven linebackers and three safeties were honored. Of the recipients, 17 were seniors, eight juniors, and George Selvie the only sophomore.
The first award in 1991 was a tie between Darrin Smith, a Miami linebacker, and George Rooks, a defensive lineman from Syracuse. Miami then won three consecutive awards between 1992 and 1994. Only two players have won the award twice—Corey Moore in 1998 and 1999, and Khaseem Greene, who shared the award in 2011 and won it outright in 2012.
Like Offensive Player of the Year, Miami won the most defensive awards as well, with seven. Pittsburgh follows with the second most awards with five, including the 2009 Co-Defensive Players of the Year, which is the only occasion where two teammates have been co-selected in the same season. During Temple's first tenure in Big East football from 1991 to 2004, its only conference award was when Dan Klecko won Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2002. Of the original 1991 members, Pittsburgh took the longest to win the defensive award, first winning with H.B. Blades in 2006. Pittsburgh won again with another linebacker, Scott McKillop, in 2008. The only member that has failed to win this award is Connecticut, which did not join Big East football until 2004.

Winners

*Unanimous selection
†Co-Player of the Year
Player Denotes the number of times the player has been selected

SeasonPlayerSchoolPositionClass
1991†MiamiLB
1991†SyracuseDT
1992MiamiLB
1993MiamiDE
1994MiamiDL
1995Virginia TechDE
1996West VirginiaDE/DT
1997SyracuseS
1998Virginia TechDE
1999* Virginia TechDE
2000*MiamiLB
2001†MiamiS
2001†SyracuseDE
2002TempleDL
2003MiamiS
2004Boston CollegeDE
2005LouisvilleDE
2006PittsburghLB
2007South FloridaDE
2008PittsburghLB
2009†PittsburghDE
2009†PittsburghDT
2010PittsburghDE
2011†RutgersLB
2011†CincinnatiDT
2012 RutgersLB

Winners by school

Special Teams Player of the Year

The Special Teams Player of the Year award was given to the player voted best on special teams. The recipient was either be a placekicker, punter, returner, or a position known as a gunner. The first winner was Kevin Williams, a returner from Miami. Andy Lee, a Pittsburgh punter, and Cincinnati kick returner Mardy Gilyard were the only players to receive the award more than once.
There were 24 recipients, with ties in 2002 and 2003. Of the award recipients, 12 were seniors, nine juniors, and three sophomores. Three placekickers won the award, most recently Virginia Tech's Shayne Graham in 1999. Todd Sauerbrun was the first punter to win after he was a unanimous selection in 1994.
Notably, Temple players received both the Special Teams Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards in 2012, the first year of the Owls' last Big East tenure. During Temple's previous tenure in Big East football from 1991 to 2004, the Owls received only one conference award.

Winners

*Unanimous selection
†Co-Player of the Year
Player Denotes the number of times the player has been selected

SeasonPlayerSchoolPositionClass
1991MiamiRS
1992SyracusePK
1993SyracuseP/PK
1994*West VirginiaP
1995SyracuseRS
1996*MiamiRS
1997*SyracuseKR
1998*SyracuseKR
1999Virginia TechPK
2000*MiamiPR
2001MiamiPR/KR
2002†PittsburghP
2002†RutgersKR
2003† PittsburghP
2003†Virginia TechPR
2004West VirginiaRS
2005RutgersRS
2006South FloridaRS
2007CincinnatiP
2008CincinnatiKR
2009 CincinnatiKR
2010South FloridaKR
2011West VirginiaRS
2012TempleRS

Winners by school

Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year award was given to the conference's best freshman. Tom Tumulty from Pittsburgh was the first winner. Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, Dion Lewis, Larry Fitzgerald, and Teddy Bridgewater also won Offensive Player of the Year honors, with Vick and Lewis winning both awards in the same season.

Winners

*Unanimous selection
Player#Eventual Player of the Year

SeasonPlayerSchoolPosition
1991PittsburghLB
1992RutgersRB
1993RutgersRB
1994MiamiDE
1995*#SyracuseQB
1996*West VirginiaRB
1997MiamiWR
1998MiamiOT
1999#Virginia TechQB
2000West VirginiaLB
2001Virginia TechRB
2002#PittsburghWR
2003West VirginiaWR
2004Boston CollegeLB
2005West VirginiaRB
2006South FloridaQB
2007*PittsburghRB
2008LouisvilleRB
2009*#PittsburghRB
2010LouisvilleS
2011#LouisvilleQB
2012TempleLB

Winners by school

Coach of the Year

won the first two awards with Miami in 1991 and 1992 after 12–0 and 11–0 seasons, respectively. Erickson, Brian Kelly, and Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech each won the award three times. Larry Coker, Rich Rodriguez, Charlie Strong, and Walt Harris have each won twice. Miami and Rutgers had the most individual winners of the award, with three. Terry Shea of Rutgers is the only winner after a losing season, while Walt Harris was 6–6 in 1997.
The award was shared twice; both times, Strong was one of the recipients. He shared the award with Randy Edsall in 2010 and Kyle Flood in 2012. Five coaches have won the award in their first year at a school—Harris in 1997, Coker in 2001, Kelly in 2007, Strong in 2010, and Flood in 2012.

Winners

*Unanimous selection
†Co-Coach of the Year
Coach Denotes the number of times the coach has been selected

Winners by school

Footnotes