HOUSTON – Clemson’s Dabo Swinney won the Bear Bryant Award Wednesday night in Houston.
One of the finalists was University of Houston head coach Tom Herman.
Herman turned in a 13-1 season, his first, with the Cougars. The Cougars finished their season with a convincing 38-24 victory in the Peach Bowl over Florida State.
Herman is among a stellar group of finalists, including the coaches for both teams that played for the national title on Monday night.
Clemson fell to Alabama, 45-40 in the final game of the College Football Playoffs Monday. Their head coach Dabo Swinney arrived in Houston today, but Alabama's Nick Saban could not attend the event, thus is not eligible to win the award.
Swinney, along with North Carolina's Larry Fedora, Navy's Ken Niumatalolo, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz and Stanford's David Shaw are the other finalists.
Longtime Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown will also be honored with a Lifetime Achievement award at the event in downtown Houston.