LSU's Saban selected AP Coach of the Year

NEW YORK -- This is one honor LSU coach Nick Saban won't have to share.

Saban's steady leadership helped earn him The Associated Press Coach of the Year award Thursday, beating Pete Carroll of Southern California.

"Even though I'm accepting the honor, it's for all of the players and coaches and support staff, also," Saban said. "They all had as big a part in it as I did. I'm very flattered and honored."

Saban received 22 votes in balloting by the panel of sports writers and broadcasters on the AP college football poll, five more than Carroll.

Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Tulsa's Steve Kragthorpe tied for third with four votes each, and Navy's Paul Johnson and Michigan State's John L. Smith tied for fifth with two votes each.

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz won the award last year.

The second-ranked Tigers won a school-record 12 games, captured their second SEC title in three years, and earned a berth in the Sugar Bowl against No. 3 Oklahoma with a chance to win the school's second national title.

LSU finished fast to get into position to win the title. The Tigers were in seventh place in the Bowl Championship Series standings on Nov. 3, with a tough closing stretch to come.

Saban came to LSU for the 2000 season, leaving Michigan State to take over a program full of potential and short on results. The Tigers had losing records in eight of the 11 years before Saban arrived.

But with a rich recruiting base in Louisiana and some of the game's most passionate fans, Saban built one of the top programs in the country.

LSU has 38 wins in Saban's four seasons, the first Tigers coach to post four consecutive winning seasons since Charles McClendon from 1976-79.