Nov. 4, 1999

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Boston College head football coach Tom O'Brien is one of 10 semifinalists selected today for Football News' 1999 Coach of the Year award. O'Brien joins some elite company that includes Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer, Florida State's Bobby Bowden, Penn State's Joe Paterno and Kansas State's Bill Snyder, who have all guided their teams to unbeaten records heading into this weekend's action.

In his third season at BC, O'Brien has led the Eagles to a 6-2 record this season. The Eagles, off to their best start since beginning 7-2 in 1994, are guaranteed a non-losing season, are bowl-eligible, and are knocking at the door of both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Top 25 polls.

The announcement follows BC's 24-23 upset win at Syracuse this past Saturday and a week that has included National Defensive Player of the Week honors for linebacker Frank Chamberlin and BIG EAST Player of the Week honors for Chamberlin (defense) and DuJuan Daniels (special teams). In addition, Boston College was named college football "Team of the Week" on the CNN/SI Web site.

This year's Football News award recipients will be honored on Monday, Jan. 31, 2000, at the National Athletic Awards ceremony at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Additional awards scheduled to be presented at the affair include those for college football offensive and defensive players of the year and college football national championship team. CBS' Greg Gumbel will serve as emcee.

Last year's Football News Coach of the Year was Arkansas' Houston Nutt.

The 1999 semifinalists:

Tyrone Willingham, Stanford