INDIANA, Pa. – IUP head football coach Paul Tortorella has been named the 2017-18 IUP Men's Coach of the Year, announced Wednesday, June 6 by the IUP Athletic Department.
 
The award is part of the Crimson & Gray Awards, which recognize the top athletes, coaches, teams and performances of the IUP Athletics season. The Awards are in their second year of existence.
 
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RELATED | 2017-18 Crimson & Gray Awards

In his first year at the helm, Tortorella led the IUP football program to its best season in nearly two decades. The Crimson Hawks went 13-1, won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship, and advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals for the first time since 1999.
 
IUP won the outright PSAC West regular season title as the only undefeated team in the division and defeated West Chester 24-7 on the road for the conference title. The Crimson Hawks earned the top seed in Super Region One in the NCAA playoffs, defeated West Chester (44-10) and Assumption (27-22) to win the region, and entered the national semifinals against West Florida as the top overall seed.
 
The 13 consecutive wins and 13-1 overall mark both tied IUP records. The Crimson Hawks finished the year ranked third in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Top 25, the highest season-ending ranking for IUP in in the current set up of the poll.
 
Tortorella was named the Division II co-Coach and Super Region One Coach of the Year by the Don Hansen Football Gazette. He also earned PSAC West Coach of the Year honors.
 
About the Coach of the Year Award
The IUP Coach of the Year is given each year to the men's and women's coaches who did the most outstanding job leading his or her team. Awards are given to the top men's team coach and women's team coach. The Coach of the Year Award began in 2017 with the creation of the Crimson & Gray Awards.  
 
About the Crimson & Gray Awards
The Crimson & Gray Awards are in their second year of existence and consist of 18 total categories - nine women, nine men - with top performers and performances from the 2017-18 year eligible.
 
Continuing from their inaugural year, awards include: Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Coach of the Year, Performance of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Breakthrough Athlete of the Year, Postseason Performer of the Year, Senior of the Year, Team of the Year and Athlete of the Year.

The IUP Sports Information Office collected award nominations from its coaches, with those nominees voted on by a select panel to narrow each category down to three finalists. That panel votes again to determine the winners.
 
Up next
The 2017-18 IUP Women's Coach of the Year will be announced at 2:30 p.m. today. The men's and women's Performance of the Year winners will be announced Thursday.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Athletics on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk.