The American Football Coaches Association announced its 2023 Regional Coach of the Year winners on Wednesday with Keiser Head Coach
Doug Socha earning AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year recognition.
The award marks the second for Coach Socha in his Keiser career (named the AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year in 2019).
The AFCA recognizes five regional Coach of the Year winners in each of the Association's five divisions: Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III, and NAIA. The winners are selected by Active members of the Association who vote for coaches in their respective regions and divisions.
AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year
Doug Socha, Head Coach – Sixth Season
- Earns second AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year award of career.
- Guided Keiser to its second consecutive berth in the NAIA FCS Semifinals.
- Entered the NAIA Football Championship Series as the No. 3 seed.
- Named the Sun Conference Coach of the Year for the second straight season.
- Earns his fourth conference Coach of the Year award (MSC Sun Division Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2020).
- Keiser claimed its second straight Sun Conference title, going a perfect 7-0 in league action this season.
- The conference crown was the second Sun Conference title for KU and the program's fifth straight league title (2019, 2020, and 2021 MSC Sun Division Champions).
- With the perfect 7-0 league record, Keiser has now registered four perfect seasons in conference action (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023).
- Coached a school-record 18 all-conference honorees as well as the SUN Offensive Lineman of the Year, SUN Defensive Back of the Year, SUN Linebacker of the Year, SUN Special Teams Player of the Year, SUN Freshman of the Year and the SUN Champion of Character.
- The Seahawks remain perfect in Sun Conference action all-time (13-0).
- Advanced to the NAIA Football Championship Series for the fifth time in program history.
- Despite an 10-2 record, Keiser is unbeaten in NAIA action (10-0) this season.
- The Seahawks have lost just one NAIA game over the last two years (35-25 loss to Northwestern in last year's National Championship Game).
- Offensively, Keiser registered 2,615 yards on the ground with 42 rushing touchdowns (single-season school record).
- The Seahawks defense has registered 38 sacks (most in program history) and has forced 20 fumbles (second-most in program history).
The Seahawks will host the No. 11 College of Idaho in the NAIA FCS Semifinals on Saturday, December 9. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM.
AFCA National Coach of the Year: The AFCA will announce the 2023 National Coaches of the Year winners in FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA on Tuesday, January 9th. The Regional winners in each division are finalists for National Coach of the Year.
Award History: The AFCA began recognizing district coaches of the year following the 1960 season. The awards were established the same year Eastman Kodak agreed to sponsor the AFCA Coach of the Year award. Prior to 1960, the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain had sponsored the program, which recognized one national Coach of the Year.
The AFCA first recognized eight district winners in each of two divisions: university and college. In 1972, a ninth district was added in each division. In 1983, the award was changed to recognize regional winners instead of district winners. The number of divisions was also increased from two to four and five regional winners were selected in each division. This resulted in a more equitable selection process and better represented the make-up of the membership. At the same time, the new system increased the number of honorees from 18 to 20. In 2006, the AFCA Division II Award was split into separate Division II and NAIA divisions, giving us the 25 winners we now recognize.
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