WACO, TX. — Former University of Mount Union Hall of Fame head coach Larry Kehres will receive the AFCA's 2024 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. The award is given to those "whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests in football," and will be presented during the 2024 AFCA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
In 27 seasons as the Purple Raiders' head coach, Kehres had a remarkable overall record of 332-24-3. He is one of only 10 coaches in the history of college football to win at least 300 games. His .929 winning percentage is the highest in college football history. Throughout those 27 years, he guided Mount Union to 21 undefeated regular seasons and 11 NCAA Division III National Championships. Kehres' teams won a total of 23 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) titles, and they set an NCAA record for most consecutive victories with 55 between the 2000 and 2003 seasons.
 
Kehres won nine AFCA Division III National Coach of the Year honors and 17 Regional Coach of the Year awards, both records for the association. He was also named OAC Coach of the Year 6 times, and in 2017, in his first year of eligibility, Kehres was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
Kehres was an active member of the AFCA. He was elected to the AFCA Board of Trustees in 2001 and served as president in 2010. Kehres also served on several AFCA committees. He was chairman of the AFCA Division III Coaches' All-America Team Selection Committee, Nominating Committee, Hall of Fame Committee, and Stagg Award Committee, to name a few.
 
Growing up right down the road from Mount Union, Kehres played quarterback for the Purple Raiders. He graduated from Mount Union in 1971, and then went on to get his master's degree in health and physical education at Bowling Green State University. It was at Bowling Green where Kehres began his coaching career as a graduate assistant football coach. From there he landed his first head coaching job at Johnstown Monroe High School in Johnstown, Ohio.
 
In 1974, Kehres returned to his alma mater as offensive coordinator and there is where he spent the rest of his career. He served as the offensive coordinator from 1974-85, then took over as head coach from 1986-2013. Kehres was also the athletic director from 1985 until 2020.
 
Not only did Kehres impact the football program while at Mount Union, but he also impacted other sports as well. He started and coached the swim team 1974-86. During his time as athletic director, Mount Union became the first school in the history of the OAC to win both men's and women's all-sport trophies in the same season in 1991. Mount Union repeated that feat in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Kehres oversaw the expansion of varsity sports at Mount Union, which currently stands at 25, and increased the athletics staff.
 
Other coaching legends who have received this prestigious award include Paul W. "Bear" Bryant, Woody Hayes, Bill Walsh, and Bobby Bowden.
 
The Award
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is given to the "individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football." Its purpose is "to perpetuate the example and influence of Amos Alonzo Stagg." The award is named in honor of a man who was instrumental in founding the AFCA in the 1920s. He is considered one of the great innovators and motivating forces in the early development of the game of football. The plaque given to each recipient is a replica of the one given to Stagg at the 1939 AFCA Convention in tribute to his 50 years of service to football.
 
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg began his coaching career at the School of Christian Workers, now Springfield (Mass.) College, after graduating from Yale University in 1888. Stagg also served as head coach at Chicago (1892-1932) and College of the Pacific (1933-1946). His 41 seasons at Chicago is one of the longest head coaching tenures in the history of the college game. Among the innovations credited to Stagg are the tackling dummy, the huddle, the reverse play, man in motion, knit pants, numbering plays and players, and the awarding of letters. A long-time AFCA?member, Stagg was the Association's 1943 Coach of the Year. According to NCAA records, Stagg's 57-year record as a college head coach is 314-199-35. He was 84 years old when he ended his coaching career at Pacific in 1946. He died in 1965 at the age of 103.
 
The AFCA contributed to this release.