CLINTON, S.C. – Head coach Steve Englehart of the Presbyterian College football team has been selected as a top 15 finalist for the esteemed FCS Eddie Robinson Award presented by Stats Perform, an honor given annually to the National Coach of the Year.

The award, first presented in 1987 and in its 39^th season, is named for legendary Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson. The winner, to be chosen by a national voting panel, will be announced on December 4 and honored at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show on January 3 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Englehart engineered Presbyterian's best season of the 18-year Division I era, winning 10 games for the third time in school history and rising as high as #16 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.

The Blue Hose started the campaign at 7-0 – which included wins over the last two Southern Conference champions – and their program-record winning streak topped out at 11 games.

PC narrowly missed out on a Pioneer Football League Championship and the automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs that comes with it, but were still able to go undefeated at Bailey Memorial Stadium (6-0) and become the first PC team since 2005 with 10 victories.






 
#PULLTHEROPE

 
- Englehart directed a Blue Hose squad that was utterly sensational on both sides of the ball, allowing the sixth-fewest points per game in FCS (16) and winning their 10 games by an average of 24.

- Presbyterian's defense allowed opponents to convert only 30 percent of third-down opportunities (third in America), collecting 22 turnovers on the defensive end of the field and giving up the fourth-fewest total yards per game in the nation.

- PC eclipsed 5,000 yards of total offense (the second-most in a sole season since the turn to Division I in 2007), averaging 45 points per game in their six contests at home.

- The Scotsmen were one of the last eight undefeated FCS teams by the time they took their first defeat on October 25, managing to go over 365 days in between losses.


 
EDDIE ROBINSON AWARD

 
- The Eddie Robinson Award – aka National FCS Coach of the Year – is one of five year-end awards given by Stats Perform publications, along with:

 

• Walter Payton Award (FCS Offensive Player of the Year)
• Buck Buchanan Award (FCS Defensive Player of the Year)
• Jerry Rice Award (FCS Freshman of the Year)
• HBCU National Player of the Year
• Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete of the Year

 
- This is not the first time that Presbyterian has been intertwined with the Stats Perform awards rollout under the Englehart administration. Last year, quarterback Collin Hurst was named a top-five finalist for the Jerry Rice Award.


 
2025 Eddie Robinson Award Finalists

Andrew Aurich – Harvard

Travis Bush – UT-Rio Grande Valley

Kevin Cahill – Lehigh

Colby Carthel – Stephen F. Austin

Steve Englehart – Presbyterian

Jim Fleming – Rhode Island

Bobby Hauck – Montana

DeSean Jackson – Delaware State

Tremaine Jackson – Prairie View A&M

Mike Jacobs – Mercer

Adam Lechtenberg – Central Connecticut State

Tim Polasek – North Dakota State

Joel Taylor – West Georgia

Todd Whitten – Tarleton State

Bobby Wilder – Tennessee Tech


 
Past Eddie Robinson Award Winners

2024: Brent Vigen – Montana State

2023: Jimmy Rogers – South Dakota State

2022: John Stiegelmeier – South Dakota State

2021: Deion Sanders – Jackson State

2020: Scott Wachenheim – VMI

2019: Troy Taylor – Sacramento State

2018: Dan Hawkins – UC Davis

2017: Will Healy – Austin Peay

2016: K.C. Keeler – Sam Houston State

2015: Joe Moglia – Coastal Carolina

2014: Sean McDonnell – New Hampshire

2013: Craig Bohl – North Dakota State

2012: Craig Bohl – North Dakota State

2011: Rob Ambrose – Towson

2010: Tony Samuel – Southeast Missouri State

2009: Henry Frazier III – Prairie View A&M

2008: Mickey Matthews – James Madison

2007: Mark Farley – Northern Iowa

2006: Jerry Moore – Appalachian State

2005: Sean McDonnell – New Hampshire

2004: Jerry Kill – Southern Illinois

2003: Mike Ayers – Wofford

2002: Tommy Tate – McNeese State

2001: Pete Lembo – Lehigh

2000: Joe Glenn – Montana

1999: Mickey Matthews – James Madison

1998: Paul Johnson – Georgia Southern

1997: Andy Talley – Villanova

1996: Darren Barbier – Nicholls State

1995: Houston Nutt – Murray State

1994: Jim Tressel – Youngstown State

1993: Dan Allen – Boston University

1992: Charlie Taaffe – The Citadel

1991: Chris Ault – Nevada

1990: Gene McDowell – UCF

1989: Erk Russell – Georgia Southern

1988: Bill Russo – Lafayette

1987: Mark Duffner – Holy Cross