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Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian edges out two B1G assistants to claim Broyles Award
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From the pollsters to the award trusts, everyone it seems wants to be the one to hand the Alabama Crimson Tide’s football program another award or honor.
Steve Sarkisian is the latest beneficiary of the Tide’s dominance, being honored with the Frank Broyle’s Award as the best assistant coach in the country, beating out two Big Ten finalists in Kane Wommack of Indiana, and Mike Hankwitz of Northwestern University.
Sark was the Tide’s offensive coordinator in 2020, a unit that scored almost 50 points per game on average and led Alabama back to another appearance as the number-one seed in the College Football Playoff.
Wommack, on the other hand, led the out-of-nowhere Hoosier’s defense to a superb season. The unit surrendered fewer than 20 points per game and helped Indiana to a 6-1 record and a New Year’s Day Outback Bowl appearance against Ole Miss. Following the season, Wommack was announced as South Alabama University’s new head coach, making the 33-year-old the youngest head man in major-college football.
Hankwitz this year wrapped up a more than fifty-year career in college football, coordinating Northwestern’s defense to a fourth-place total rank in the Big Ten to go along with a 6-2 season, a Big Ten West Division title, and an appearance in the upcoming Citrus Bowl against Auburn of the SEC. Earlier in the season Hankwitz announced 2020 would be his final on the sideline as an assistant coach after spending the last 12-years in Evanston with his friend and head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
Mark Schipper is a reporter, sportswriter, and aspiring novelist living in Chicago, Illinois.