The American Football Coaches Association recognized late Johns Hopkins University football coach Jim Margraff on Tuesday night as its national Division III coach of the year for 2018, presenting one of its top coaching awards posthumously to the man who led the Blue Jays for 29 seasons.
Image caption: Jim Margraff
Margraff died last week at 58. Johns Hopkins offensive coordinator Greg Chimera and defensive coordinator Mickey Rehring accepted the award on Margraff's behalf at the AFCA convention in San Antonio.
Margraff—also named DIII coach of the year by d3football.com last month—guided Hopkins to a 12-2 record, a 10th straight Centennial Conference title, and an eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA playoffs this past season. Johns Hopkins advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the first time in school history, and the 12 wins the are a school record.
Margraff finished the 2018 season with a 29-year record of 221-89-3 at Johns Hopkins. He is the winningest coach in school and conference history, and his 221 wins are also the most of any college football coach in Maryland state history.
Other recipients of the AFCA coaching awards for the 2018 season were Mike Leach of Washington State (FBS), Joe Harasymiak of Maine (FCS), Drew Cronic of Lenoir-Rhyne (Division II), and Steve Ryan of Morningside (NAIA).
The winners are selected by a vote of active AFCA members at four-year schools in the association's five divisions. The AFCA has named a coach of the year since 1935. The AFCA Coach of the Year award is the oldest and most prestigious of all the Coach of the Year awards and is the only one chosen exclusively by coaches.
