DALLAS (FWAA) – It took Scott Frost only two seasons to turn what was a winless UCF team into an unbeaten one. For finishing a complete turnaround this season that includes a conference championship and a New Year's Day bowl bid, Frost earned the 2017 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, the association and the Allstate Sugar Bowl announced Thursday.

UCF (12-0) was the only unbeaten team in the Football Bowl Subdivision in the regular season, and will meet Auburn (10-3) in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year's Day. Five days later he will return to Atlanta to be honored as the FWAA's coach of the year. It will be Frost's final game at UCF before taking over as head coach at his alma mater, Nebraska. As a senior quarterback, Frost helped lead the Cornhuskers to a perfect 13-0 record and a national championship in 1997.

"Scott Frost is one of the up-and-coming coaches in college football," said 2017 FWAA President Dave Jones of the PA Media Group. "What he did at UCF was nothing short of remarkable in just two seasons."

In conjunction with presenting sponsor, the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Football Writers Association of America selected Frost over seven other finalists: Bill Clark of UAB; Lane Kiffin of Florida Atlantic; Jeff Monken of Army; Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma; Kirby Smart of Georgia; Dabo Swinney of Clemson; and Jeff Tedford of Fresno State.

Frost became the first coach whose school is not currently among the Power Five conferences to win the FWAA Coach of the Year Award since Air Force's Fisher DeBerry in 1985.

"The Allstate Sugar Bowl is proud to be able to honor Coach Robinson, a Louisiana legend, by sponsoring this award," said Stanley Cohn, the President of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Committee. "I would also like to congratulate Scott Frost on earning this honor. To take a team that was winless two years ago all the way to an undefeated season and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl is a very impressive feat. We look forward to officially presenting the trophy to him in Atlanta next month."

The official presentation will be on Jan. 6, 2018, at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel where Frost will be handed the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year bust during a reception in conjunction with the College Football Playoff National Championship.

The season prior to Frost's arrival in Orlando from his post as Oregon's offensive coordinator, the Knights were 0-12. In Frost's first season in 2016, the Knights finished 6-7 and played in the AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando after making dramatic improvements on offense and defense.

That set the stage for 2017 and the Knights' undefeated run to win the American Athletic Conference title. UCF led the FBS in scoring (49.4 points per game) with its "UCFast" offense and was tied for second in the country in turnover margin (plus-1.25 per game).

"I'm very proud of what this group of student-athletes and coaches has accomplished during my tenure at UCF," Frost said last week. "The Knights should be in the conversation for the American Athletic Conference championship year in and year out. UCF should be a Top 25 program year in and year out. I believe this program is well on its way to establishing that level of success.

"The next head coach at UCF is inheriting an incredible group of young men and is more fortunate than he probably knows to be working at this place."

The FWAA has presented a coaching award since the 1957 season when Ohio State's Woody Hayes was named the first recipient. The FWAA coaching award is named after the late Robinson, a coaching legend at Grambling State University for 55 seasons.

Robinson, who passed away in 2007, won 70.7 percent of his games during his illustrious career. Robinson's teams won or tied for 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championships after joining the league in 1959. His Tigers won nine Black College Football Championships during his career spent all at the same school.

The Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA and its 24 awards now boast over 800 recipients, dating to 1935. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about our story.

The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,300 men and women who cover college football. 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 and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com or 214-870-6516.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 27 national champions, 92 Hall of Fame players, 48 Hall of Fame coaches and 17 Heisman Trophy winners in its 83-year history. The 84th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, will be played on January 1, 2018. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1.6 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors nearly 100,000 student-athletes each year, while injecting more than $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit AllstateSugarBowl.org.

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