CONWAY, S.C. — Coastal Carolina head football coach Jamey Chadwell has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).
Chadwell, along with Penn State University head coach James Franklin, Wake Forest University head coach Dave Clawson, University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) head coach Dana Dimel, Kennesaw State University head coach Brian Bohannon, and Iowa Western Community College head coach Scott Strohmeier were elected by members attending the 2022 AFCA Convention.
Franklin will represent the Big Ten, Chadwell will represent the Sun Belt, Clawson will represent the ACC, Dimel will represent Conference USA, Bohannon will be an FCS representative, while Strohmeier will be an ex officio member of the board and represent junior college football.
This season, Chadwell led Coastal Carolina to an 11-2 record and the program's first-ever bowl game victory in the 2021 Tailgreeter Cure Bowl.
After serving as the interim head coach for the 2017 season, CCU's first full season at the FBS level, and leading the Chants to a 5-7 record in 2019, his first season as the full-time head coach, Chadwell guided Coastal Carolina to a historical year in 2020.
In his third year as the head coach at Coastal Carolina, Chadwell led the Chants to the program's first-ever Sun Belt Conference title, an 11-1 overall mark, including an 8-0 Sun Belt Conference record, and the program's first-ever FBS postseason bowl game. The 2020 season marked Coastal Carolina's first-ever undefeated regular season and the first time that the Chanticleers were ranked in either the Associated Press Top 25 Poll or the Amway Coaches Poll presented by USA Today Sports.
In 2020, the Chanticleers posted two wins over FBS top 25 nationally-ranked opponents, the first two such victories in program history, four wins over top 50 opponents, and were ranked as high as No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 11 in the Amway Coaches Poll, both Sun Belt Conference records. The Chanticleers were also ranked as high as No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings, also a Sun Belt record.
For his efforts, Chadwell received several Coach of the Year honors in 2020. He was named the 2020 Walter Camp Coach of the Year, the 2020 Associated Press Coach of the Year, The Home Depot College Football Coach of the Year, the 2020 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, the Sporting News' 2020 Coach of the Year, the 2020 CBS Sports/247Sports Coach of the Year, and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Group of 5 2020 Conference Coach of the Year. He was also the winner of the 2020 George Munger College Coach of the Year Award and was chosen by fans as The Premier Coach of College Football by Premier Players, Inc.
Chadwell was also named the 2020 Sun Belt Coach of the Year, the 2020 Werner Ladder AFCA FBS Region 2 Coach of the Year, and honored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) with the 2020 Grant Teaff Coach of the Year Award. He was also a finalist for both the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award and the Lombardi Honors 2020 Coach of the Year Award.
Chadwell has posted a record of 30-19 in his four seasons with the Chanticleers.
Before taking over the reins at Coastal Carolina in 2019, he was a two-time FCS National Coach of the Year finalist and a three-time Big South Coach of the Year at Charleston Southern from 2013-16. He was also the head coach at Delta State in 2012 and North Greenville from 2009-10.
He has an overall career record of 90-54 including his stops at North Greenville, Delta State, and Charleston Southern.
These coaches will join a group of distinguished head coaches who guide the organization. The Board formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA, which was founded in 1922 by Amos Alonzo Stagg, John Heisman, and others. Returning members of the AFCA Board of Trustees include incoming president Craig Bohl of the University of Wyoming, first vice-president Todd Knight of Ouachita Baptist University, second vice-president Jeff McMartin of Central College (Iowa), and third vice-president Paul Winters of Wayne State University (Mich.).
Also serving on the Board in 2022 are: Ken Niumatalolo, U.S. Naval Academy; David Shaw, Stanford University; Jim Catanzaro, Lake Forest College; Steve Ryan, Morningside University; Bobby Hauck, University of Montana; Neal Brown, West Virginia University; Sam Pittman, University of Arkansas; Tim Lester, Western Michigan University; Bobby Kennedy, Stanford University, ex officio member and chairman of the Assistant Coaches Committee; Van Malone, Kansas State University, ex officio member and chairman of the Minority Issues Committee; and Michael Christensen, Carson (Calif.) High School, ex officio member and chairman of the High School Committee. AFCA Executive Director Todd Berry serves as secretary-treasurer of the organization.