Tuesday, November 27, 2018
WACO, Texas – Morehead State Associate Head Football Coach Milo Austin has been selected the Football Championship Subdivision Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.
Finishing his fourth season with the Eagles in 2018, Austin was elevated before the year to Associate Head Coach. He coaches the wide receivers and serves as co-special teams coordinator.
"It is truly an honor to be voted Assistant Coach of the Year," said Austin. "To be in the same breath as such coaching greats who have received this achievement is very humbling."
Each year, staff representatives from NCAA and NAIA football-playing schools are asked to nominate an assistant for consideration. From those nominations, the winners are selected by the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year Committee. The Assistant Coach of the Year award was first presented in 1997 and was created to honor assistant coaches who excel in community service, commitment to the student-athlete, on-field coaching success and AFCA professional organization involvement.
"Once again, five outstanding assistant coaches have been selected for their dedication, not only to their teams, but to their communities," said AFCA Executive Director Todd Berry. "Oftentimes, the head coach receives much of the credit for his team's success, but any head coach is only as good as his assistants. Much of an assistant coach's work is done behind the scenes. It is our pleasure to bring it to the forefront."
The criteria for the award is not limited to on-field coaching ability or the success of the team and the players whom these assistant coaches work with. Service to the community through charitable work and other volunteer activities, participation in AFCA activities and events, participation in other professional organizations and impact on student-athletes are all taken into account in the selection process. Winners of the Assistant Coach of the Year Award will receive a plaque to commemorate their recognition. They will be honored at the AFCA Honors Luncheon, presented by Amway, held Monday, Jan. 7, during the 2019 AFCA Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
Austin has spent 11 years coaching college football, with the last four at Morehead State. An active member of the AFCA, Austin serves on the Program Committee and spoke during the Skills and Drills portion of the 2018 AFCA Convention in Charlotte.
In the community, he has volunteered for Build-a-Bed project, which makes beds for underserved families in the local community. He founded and ran the Full Focus Foundation, a youth life skills development program. As Director of Player Development at Cincinnati in 2010, Austin guided the "Cats in the Community" initiative and created the Cats Life Skills seminar program.
Austin has participated in the Bill Walsh Minority Internship with the St. Louis Rams in the summer of 2013 and also coached at the Los Angeles Chargers' preseason camp in 2018 as part of the minority fellowship program. He also coached Team USA at the 2018 FISU World Collegiate Games in Harbin, China as part of a trip with Athletes in Action.
He has mentored an all-conference or all-American performer in each year he has coached.
In his time at Morehead State, he helped mentor slot receiver and kick returner Jake Raymond to the school career records in receptions (272) and receiving yards (2,907) and guided Jarin Higginbotham, a 2018 senior, to record more than 2,000 career receiving yards.
Austin began his collegiate playing career as a cornerback at Division III Salisbury, where he was named Atlantic Central Football Conference Freshman of the Year in 2001. He was also the Eastern College Athletic Conference Eastern Region Freshman of the Year.
He finished his career at West Virginia, where he was a wide receiver on the 2004 Big East Conference Championship team.
ABOUT THE AFCA
The AFCA was founded in 1922 and currently has more than 11,000 members around the world, ranging from the high school level to the professional ranks. According to its constitution, the AFCA was formed, in part, to "maintain the highest possible standards in football and the coaching profession" and to "provide a forum for the discussion and study of all matters pertaining to football and coaching."