Sacramento State football leader named national coach of the year
A memorable season of milestones, firsts and accolades continued for the Sacramento State football team this week.
Days after Hornets quarterback Kevin Thomson was named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award for the nation’s top Division I FCS player, Sac State coach Troy Taylor was named the STATS FCS national Coach of the Year.
Taylor, in his first season with the Hornets, guided the program to its first Big Sky Conference championship, its first FCS playoff and first postseason berth in 31 seasons.
Sac State went 9-4, its most wins since going 10-3 in 1988 while in Division II.
Taylor also earned Big Sky Coach of the Year and Thomson Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year honors.
A year after after going 2-8, Sac State’s season ended last Saturday in a second-round game, a 42-28 loss to Austin Peay, coached by Mark Hudspeth. The Governors’ coach was third in the Eddie Robinson award through voting from media relations directors, broadcasters and writers.
Taylor will be honored at the STATS FCS Awards Banquet on Jan. 10 in Frisco, Texas, on the eve of the national championship game.
With Taylor calling plays, Sac State set school single-season records for points scored, touchdowns and passing yards. The team set the program mark for points with 77 against Southern Oregon in Taylor’s first game as head coach in his hometown.
Dan Hawkins of UC Davis was presented the Robinson award last season after leading the Aggies to their best FCS season.
It’s an incredible honor to receive the Eddie Robinson Award. The success we had this season is the result of a lot of hard work from our administrators, support staff and what I feel is the best coaching staff in the country,” Taylor said. “We had an incredible group of players that really bought into our vision from the moment we arrived. And that was what really allowed us to have immediate success.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 2:08 PM.