NEW ORLEANS (FWAA) - Kansas coach Mark Mangino was named the winner of the 2007 FWAA/Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award on Friday night at a reception here.

The Eddie Robinson Award is sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and was presented in conjunction with the BCS Championship Game to be played on Monday night at the Louisiana Superdome. The entire FWAA membership votes on the association's coach of the year award, which was narrowed to eight finalists in early December.

"I appreciate the award and hope to live up to the high standards of the award for Coach Eddie Robinson," Mangino said. "I will never win as many games as he did. I will run out of time."

Mangino acknowledged the number of victories Coach Robinson achieved, but added: "I wonder if people knew what a great person he is. What we want to do is make a difference in young men's lives. And Coach Robinson made a difference."

Kansas finished the 2007 regular season with an 11-1 record, losing only to Missouri, 36-28, in the final game of the regular season. Then, Kansas knocked off Virginia Tech in the FedEx Orange Bowl, 24-21. The Jayhawks won more games in a season (12) than any time in school history. KU's Orange Bowl appearance was the third bowl berth earned under Mangino in his six seasons at the Big 12 school.

Mangino, a 1987 graduate of Youngstown State, served as an assistant on the staffs at Kansas State and Oklahoma before arriving in Lawrence. He inherited a KU program which had not gone to a bowl game since the beginning of Big 12 play in 1996. But he took the Jayhawks to the Tangerine Bowl in 2003 during his second season. After winning the Orange Bowl, Mangino's six-year record at KU now stands at 37-36.

"The Fiesta Bowl is proud to continue its partnership with the Football Writers Association of America in honoring the career and life of the great Eddie Robinson," Fiesta Bowl Chairman Dick Stemple said. "We are extremely proud to honor Kansas head coach Mark Mangino with the most prestigious coach of the year award in college football."

"Mark Mangino won 11 regular-season games and a BCS bowl game at a school which traditionally has not been a major player in college football," said FWAA executive director Steve Richardson. "That, in itself, is reason enough for the award to go to him."

The FWAA has honored a major-college coach with its coach of the year award since 1957.

The FWAA coaching award is named after Robinson, a coaching legend at Grambling State University for 55 years. The late "Coach Rob" has more Division I victories (408) than any other coach. Coach Robinson passed away on April 4, 2007. But his legacy will certainly not be forgotten. He coached his entire career at Grambling and produced numerous professional players and coaches as well as players who graduated and distinguished themselves in other professional endeavors.

The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of nearly 1,000 men and women across North America who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game day operations, major awards, a national poll and its annual All-America team.

For more information on the Eddie Robinson Award, contact FWAA executive director Steve Richardson (972-713-6198 or tiger@fwaa.com).

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