ATLANTA (Oct. 20, 2023) – The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc. will celebrate legendary coach Tom Osborne's 45th anniversary of winning the national coaching award on Oct. 21st at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska during the Cornhuskers' home football game against Northwestern.
 
The Dodd Trophy Presented by PNC Bank is the most coveted Coach of the Year Award in college football and celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also representing programs with the highest ideals of scholarship, leadership and integrity on and off the field – the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd's philosophy.
 
Coach Osborne was awarded The Dodd Trophy in 1978 after leading the Cornhuskers (9-3) to their sixth consecutive winning season and Nebraska's second Big Eight Conference title.
 
As Nebraska's all-time winningest coach, Osborne posted an 83.6 winning percentage during his remarkable 25-year tenure and led the Cornhuskers to 255 wins, a school-record 25 consecutive bowl berths and 13 conference titles. He also took the Cornhuskers to four consecutive National Championship Game appearances, winning the 1994, 1995 and 1997 national titles after three undefeated seasons. In 1999, Osborne was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and recognized for his loyalty and commitment to the University of Nebraska football program for 25 years.
 
"Coach Osborne is one of the game's all-time greats and turned Nebraska into a national powerhouse," said Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. "We are honored to be able to celebrate his accomplishments, especially during the 100th year of Memorial Stadium, since so many of that historic venue's biggest moments were under his leadership."
 
"Coach Osborne is an iconic figure for the Nebraska program and college football as a whole," said Gary Stokan, CEO and president of Peach Bowl, Inc. "His name will always be synonymous with Cornhusker football. He was, and is, a living personification of Bobby Dodd's principles of molding young men on and off the field, while also leading with integrity."
 
Since 2014, officials from the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc. have celebrated the major anniversaries of previous winners of The Dodd Trophy by honoring them during a game on their campus. Coaches such as Vince Dooley (Georgia), Bobby Bowden (Florida State), Bobby Ross (Georgia Tech), Dick Sheridan (NC State), George Welsh (Virginia), Dick MacPherson (Syracuse), Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech), Ralph Friedgen (Maryland), Bill Snyder (Kansas State), Lloyd Carr (Michigan), Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) and Ken Hatfield (Air Force) were all recognized at their respective schools.
 
The winner of the 2023 Dodd Trophy Presented by PNC Bank will be announced in Atlanta during bowl week of this year's Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. A panel consisting of all previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a College Football Hall of Fame member will identify the final list of potential recipients at the conclusion of the 2023 season.