Coaching award semifinalists meet in Evanston on Saturday

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz and Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald are named semifinalists for the new Joseph V. Paterno Award, which is named for the nation's best coach.

Their teams play Saturday. Fitzgerald has won three of the four match-ups against Ferentz.

Here is the full press release:

2010 Joseph V. Paterno Award Semifinalists

Maxwell Football Club President, Ron Jaworski, announced the 2010 Semifinalists for the first Joseph V. Paterno Award for Coach of the Year. The list includes a field of 15 candidates for the Paterno Award as selected by a special Maxwell Football Club Advisory Committee.

The award winner is decided on by the committee. To honor the spirit of Coach Paterno's persona, the winner is based on success on the football field, in the classroom and in the community.

The three finalists for the award will be announced on Monday, December 6th. The formal announcement of the award will be made on Saturday, December 18th, 2010.

TCU's Gary Patterson, last year's winner of the George Munger National Coach of the Year, highlights the list of nominees. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer are two more semifinalists who have also won the Munger Award. Another intriguing nominee is Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, who won the Maxwell Club's first two Chuck Bednarik Awards as a player.

Coach Paterno is not eligible for this award.

All Semifinalists are listed in alphabetical order with their school designated

Semifinalists for the 1st Paterno Award

Beamer, Frank, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Bielema, Bret, University of Wisconsin

Calhoun, Troy, United States Air Force Academy

Ferentz, Kirk University of Iowa

Fitzgerald, Pat, Northwestern University

Harbaugh, Jim, Stanford University

Niumatalolo, Ken, United States Naval Academy

O'Brien, Tom, North Carolina State University

Patterson, Gary, Texas Christian University

Petersen, Chris, Boise State University

Pinkel, Gary, University of Missouri

Shannon, Randy, University of Miami, Florida

Stoops, Bob, University of Oklahoma

Tressel, Jim, Ohio State University

Whittingham, Kyle, University of Utah