(AUSTINTOWN, Ohio)--Capital University head football coach Jim Collins has been selected to receive the 2006 Lee Tressel Ohio College Coach-of-the-Year Award. Collins will be honored at the 19th Annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet of the Northeastern Ohio Chapter of the National Football Foundation. The banquet will be held on Tuesday, May 8 at LaCentre in Westlake.
Tickets to the banquet are $50 each or $500 for a table of 10 and can be ordered by calling Tim Gleason at (330) 259-9090.
The award will be presented by Jim Tressel, head football coach at The Ohio State University and son of the late Lee Tressel, for whom the award is named.
Jim Collins has been the architect behind the rebuilding of the Capital University football program into one of the elite programs in the Ohio Athletic Conference and all of NCAA Division III.
In each of the last two seasons, Collins has led Capital to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA national quarterfinals. In 2006, Capital had its best season in school history going 9-1 in the regular season then hosted the first-ever postseason games at Capital in 36 years, posting impressive first- and second- round victories. The Crusaders finished the campaign with an 11-2 record and ranked No. 3 in the national polls.
Under his watch, Capital has had six-straight winning seasons, posting a 27-5 home record over that time, and he has been named OAC Coach-of-the-Year in 2001, 2003 and 2006. He was the AFCA North Region Coach of the Year in 2005.
Collins' teams have rewritten the school record books, setting more than 40 records over the past eight years. His program's accomplishments are not limited to the field, as over 50 percent of the roster maintains a 3.00 grade-point-average or better. Collins also has written numerous articles on coaching, served as the North Region chair of the NCAA Division III National Football Committee and is currently a member of American Football Coaches Association Coaches Council that helps act as a legislative liaison with the NCAA and develop the program for the annual convention.