Vanderbilt wins academic award in its home city

By David Moorman  |   Monday, January 12, 2009  |  Comments( 1 )

College Football
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Vanderbilt had the home-field advantage when the American Football Coaches Association handed out the 2008 Academic Achievement Award at its convention in Nashville.

It wasn’t the location of the event, though, that prompted Vanderbilt to win the prestigious honor in its home city.

Instead, it was the Commodores’ performance in the classroom that led them to win the award outright for the first time since its inception in 1981. Vanderbilt had twice tied for top honors. Vanderbilt was recognized for having the highest graduation rate among all 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams. The Commodores graduated 95 percent of their 2001 freshman class. Remarkable as that may be, it’s what Vanderbilt does best. Winning on the field doesn’t come as easy, and that’s what makes receiving the award so special. Vanderbilt’s 16-14 victory over Boston College in the Music City Bowl in Nashville represented the Commodores’ first bowl victory since 1955.

Vanderbilt and Boston College shared the academic honor in 1996, and Vanderbilt and Notre Dame were co-winners in 2001. Vanderbilt finished third a year ago to co-winners Notre Dame and Northwestern.

OUT OF HERE:<b> Florida quarterback Tim Tebow has decided to remain in school for his senior year, but four prominent players announced their intentions of jumping early to the NFL. Alabama and Georgia each had two players declare, with Georgia to feel the greatest loss next season. Going to the NFL from Georgia are junior quarterback Matthew Stafford and redshirt sophomore running back Knowshon Moreno.

Alabama will be losing junior offensive left tackle Andre Smith and junior running back Glen Coffee.

Stafford threw a school-record 25 touchdowns this past season. Moreno joined Herschel Walker as the only Georgia running backs to have rushed for more than 1,000 yards in consecutive season.

Coffee finished with 1,383 yards this past season, which ties him for the second-highest single-season total in school history. Smith won the Outland Trophy.

<b>BACK AGAIN: In revamping his defensive staff, LSU coach Les Miles chose three coaches with SEC ties.

New coordinator John Chavis spent 14 years in the same capacity at Tennessee. Incoming secondary coach Ron Powers was the safeties coach in the final year of his five-year tenure at South Carolina. Line coach Brick Haley comes to LSU from the NFL’s Chicago Bears but spent the three previous years at Mississippi State.

All three also once worked at Alabama A&M of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
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About David Moorman

Dave Moormann is an award-winning journalist, who has covered LSU athletics since 1980. He began his coverage with the Baton Rouge Advocate, where he was a writer and editor from 1980-98. In 1996, he authored a book on the history of LSU football entitled, "Fighting Tigers Handbook: Stories, Stats ...
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