Liberty's Chadwell wins Bryant Award as top Group of 5 coach

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell has been named the Paul “Bear” Bryant Group of Five coach of the year after guiding the Flames to a 13-0 record and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1 in his first season with the team.

Chadwell also is a finalist for the Bryant coach of the year award, which also includes coaches from Power Five conferences. The others are David Braun (Northwestern), Kalen DeBoer (Washington), Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri), Rhett Lashlee (SMU), Mike Norvell (Florida State), Nick Saban (Alabama) and Steve Sarkisian (Texas).

The Flames rose to No. 18 in the Top 25 after beating New Mexico State 49-35 for the Conference USA championship. They also moved into the College Playoff Poll for the final three weeks, finishing at No. 23.

They will face No. 8 Oregon in the bowl game.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football