Northwest Missouri State Head Football Coach Mel Tjeerdsma has been named the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.
This is the third time he’s won the award. The other two times came in ’98 and ’99 when the Bearcats won the National Championship. This past season, the Bearcats lost in the title game for the 4 th year in a row.
Mel Tjeerdsma is the winningest football coach in D-II playoff history with 25 wins. Tjeerdsma boasts a 25-year coaching record of 216-78-4 (.732). He’s 157-40 in 15 seasons at Northwest and was 59-38-4 in 10 seasons at Austin College (1984-93). His 216 wins are the 10 th -most in Division II history. Four more wins will place him in a tie for seventh place on that list.
