It took me awhile to make my decision, but I voted for Penn State's Joe Paterno and USC's Reggie Bush as the Associated Press' national coach and player of the year.
The results will be released later this week.
Bush seems like the natural choice, especially considering how he ran away with the Heisman vote. I did give some consideration to Vince Young and the dynamic year he had at Texas.
Coach of the year was even tougher.
George O'Leary pulled off an amazing turnaround at Central Florida, taking his team from 0-11 in 2004 to an 8-4 campaign this season and spot in the Hawaii Bowl.
But I was one of the many who wrote off Paterno as a guy who had stayed a little too long. I have the utmost respect for his work and believed he earned the right to leave on his own terms. I just wished he would retire because his tenure became painful to watch. The team stumbled to a 4-7 finish last year.
It would be tough not to recognize Paterno's impressive turnaround, leading Penn State to a 10-1 record and Orange Bowl berth.

Posted by ilimon at 09:27 PM | Permalink