The six coaches – USC's Pete Carroll, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Utah's Urban Meyer, UTEP's Mike Price, California's Jeff Tedford and Auburn's Tommy Tuberville – are on the ballot which will go out to all FWAA members via e-mail next week.

Carroll

Ferentz

Meyer

Price

Tedford

Tuberville

The FWAA membership's final vote will be revealed in late December or early January during a nationally-televised football game.

The FWAA has honored a major-college coach with its Coach of the Year Award since 1957. Among the six finalists, there is only one previous winner – Mike Price in 1997 when he was head coach at Washington State.

The FWAA's coaching award is named after Eddie Robinson, a coaching legend at Grambling State University for 55 years. He has more Division I victories (408) than any other coach.

The winner of the FWAA/Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award will be honored at his campus before a football game next fall.

Here's a capsule look at the FWAA/Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year finalists:

• Pete Carroll has led USC to another Pac-10 championship. The unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Trojans are one win away from making the Orange Bowl. They play UCLA on Saturday in Los Angeles. Carroll was an Eddie Robinson Award finalist last season when the Trojans won the FWAA's Grantland Rice Trophy for the national title.

• Kirk Ferentz's Hawkeyes (9-2) grabbed a piece of the Big Ten title on the last weekend of season when they beat Wisconsin. Ferentz is a past Eddie Robinson Award finalist. The Hawkeyes' regular season is complete. They are headed to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando on New Year's Day.

• Urban Meyer's Utes are in the Bowl Championship Series, in either the Rose or Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Utah (11-0) team has won the Mountain West Conference title and has completed its regular season. Meyer is one of the hot, young coaches in college football and has made Utah a national power in his two seasons.

• Mike Price, in his first season in El Paso, led the Miners to an 8-3 record and a second-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference behind Boise State. After a 2-11 mark last season, the Miners are headed to the Houston Bowl after one of the great turnarounds in college football this season.

• Jeff Tedford's Golden Bears (9-1) have lost only to top-ranked USC this season and have their most conference wins since 1949. They play at Southern Mississippi on Saturday and need to win that game to stay in the BCS mix and contention for a Rose Bowl berth opposite Michigan.

• Tommy Tuberville's job status was shaky a year ago when the Tigers suffered through a five-loss season. But Auburn has rebounded with a dazzling 11-0 record going into SEC title game against Tennessee Saturday in Atlanta.

For more information about the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, go to www.footballwriters.com.

Related links:
• Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award official site