Mid-American Conference football individual awards


The Mid-American Conference football awards are given annually by the Mid-American Conference at the conclusion of each college football season. The conference gives out a total of five awards, the Offensive, Defensive, and Freshman Players of the Year, the Coach of the Year, and the Vern Smith Leadership Award, which is given to the league's MVP in that season. The Vern Smith Award is selected by a vote of the coaches in the MAC while the remaining awards are selected by the MAC News Media Association.

Offensive Player of the Year

Winners

Winners by school

Defensive Player of the Year

Winners

Winners by school

Special Teams Player of the Year

Winners

Winners by school

Freshman Player of the Year

The Freshman Player of the Year award was first given by the MAC after the 1982 football season. That year's winner, Brian McClure, won a slew of MAC accords, including Offensive Player of the Year three times, and the Vern Smith award twice. Ball State, Central Michigan and Western Michigan are tied with the most awards, with players from each school winning five times.

Winners

SeasonPlayerSchoolPosition
1982Bowling Green
1983Western Michigan
1984Northern Illinois
1985Northern Illinois
1986Kent State
1987Ball State
1988Central Michigan
1989Western MichiganQB
1990Toledo
1991Kent State
1992Miami
1993Ball State
1994Kent State
1995Central Michigan
1996*Eastern Michigan
1996*Western MichiganQB
1997Western MichiganRB
1998Bowling Green
1999Akron
2000Ball State
2001MiamiQB
2002Buffalo
2003Central MichiganRB
2004Ball State
2005Western MichiganQB
2006Central MichiganQB
2007Central Michigan
2008Ball State
2009Temple
2010Kent StateDL
2011Bowling GreenRB
2012Western MichiganWR
2013Western MichiganWR
2014Western MichiganRB
2015Western MichiganRB
2016OhioS
2017Marcus ChildersNorthern IllinoisQB
2018Jaret PattersonBuffaloRB

Winners by school

Vern Smith Leadership Award

The Vern Smith Leadership Award was started in 1982 by the Downtown Toledo Athletic Club. In that year, it was known as the Jefferson Award and the name was changed to honor the University of Toledo Athletic Director Vern Smith in 1987. The award is given to the top football player in the Mid-American Conference. Only four players have won the award multiple times, with the most recent winner, Larry English, being the only non-quarterback to win it. Northern Illinois leads with seven awards all-time, followed by Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Marshall tied with four awards in each school. The Vern Smith award is the only one voted on by the coaches, with the Coach of the Year, as well as the Players of the Year are selected by the media.

Winners

Winners by school

Coach of the Year

The MAC has awarded a Coach of the Year award every year since 1965. The first award went to Bo Schembechler of Miami University. Only one coach has won the award more than twice, with Frank Lauterbur winning the award in 1967, 1969, and 1970. Only two coaches have won the award beyond their tenth year of coaching. Bill Hess won the award in 1968 in his 11th year of coaching the Ohio Bobcats and Herb Deromedi won the award in 1990, his 13th year of coaching Central Michigan. Also, only one coach, Bill Mallory, has won the award coaching two separate teams. He first earned the award in 1973 while coaching Miami University, and then won ten years later giving Northern Illinois their first Coach of the Year award. Toledo leads all schools with nine awards. Temple won their first award in 2009 when head coach Al Golden won his first MAC Coach of the Year award.

Winners

SeasonCoachSchoolYear with schoolRecord
1965Miami3rd7–3
1966Western Michigan3rd7–3
1967Toledo5th9–1
1968Ohio11th10–1
1969 Toledo7th11–0
1970 Toledo8th12–0
1971Toledo1st12–0
1972Kent State1st6–5
1973Miami5th11–0
1974Miami1st10–0–1
1975Ball State1st9–2
1976Western Michigan2nd7–4
1977Eastern Michigan2nd8–3
1978Ball State1st10–1
1979Toledo3rd7–3–1
1980Central Michigan3rd9–2
1981 Toledo5th9–3
1982Bowling Green6th7–5
1983 Northern Illinois3rd10–2
1984Toledo3rd9–2–1
1985 Bowling Green9th11–1
1986Kent State1st5–6
1987Eastern Michigan5th10–2
1988Western Michigan2nd9–3
1989Ball State5th7–3–2
1990 Central Michigan13th8–3–1
1991Bowling Green1st11–1
1992 Bowling Green2nd10–2
1993 Ball State9th8–3–1
1994Central Michigan1st9–3
1995Toledo5th11–0–1
1996Ohio2nd6–6
1997 Toledo7th9–3
1998Marshall2nd12–1
1999 Marshall3rd13–0
2000Western Michigan4th9–3
2001Bowling Green1st8–3
2002Northern Illinois6th8–4
2003Miami5th13–1
2004Akron1st6–5
2005Western Michigan1st7–4
2006Ohio2nd9–5
2007Buffalo2nd5–7
2008Ball State6th12–2
2009Temple3rd9–3
2010Miami2nd9–4
2011Eastern Michigan3rd6–6
2012Kent State2nd11–3
2013Northern Illinois1st12–1
2014Western Michigan2nd8–5
2015Toledo5th9–2
2016 Western Michigan4th13–1
2017Toledo2nd11–3
2018Buffalo4th10–4

Winners by school