Iowa Western Community College Head Coach Scott Strohmeier has been named the 2012 American Community College Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year. The award will be presented to Strohmeier at the American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year Dinner on Tuesday, January 8, at the 2013 AFCA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee."I'm honored and humbled to be selected," said Strohmeier. "To me, it's not just an individual award, I know my name's on it, but I wouldn't be where I am without my assistants and especially my players. It's an honor receiving this award on behalf of Iowa Western, my staff and all my players."
Strohmeier recently completed his fourth season as head football coach at Iowa Western Community College (IWCC) by guiding the 2012 Reivers to the school's first-ever National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Championship. The Reivers, who played their first game of football just four years ago, won a school record 12 games in 2012, capped off with a 27-7 win over No. 2 ranked Butler Community College. Strohmeier also led IWCC to the Midwest Football Conference Championship for the second time in three years.
In running the table on the gridiron this season with the nation's top-rated offensive unit, the IWCC Reivers knocked off six teams that were ranked among the NJCAA Top 25 at some point during the course of the season, including three foes ranked in the Top 15 nationally at the time of their head-to-head meetings with the Reivers. The Reivers were an offensive powerhouse this year, averaging nearly 20 more points and 50 more yards of total offense per game than the next closest offense. Strohmeier has compiled an impressive 35-8 overall record since taking over head coaching duties for the brand new football program in 2008. After a winning debut season in 2009, Strohmeier's Reivers went on back-to-back 9-2 seasons, capping off the 2011 season with a 62-0 win in the Graphics Edge Bowl against the Rochester Yellowjackets. This season marks the third straight season the Reivers were named Region XI champions.
This year, the Reivers put together their best season yet, going undefeated in just the school's fourth season of playing football. The season started off as well as anyone could hope, as the Reivers outscored their first three opponents 204-44. The Reivers offense remained productive throughout the season, scoring over 60 points in eight games, including more than 80 points in two games. Strohmeier's defense contributed big numbers as well, allowing just 12.8 points a game and holding teams to under 300 yards of offense per game.
Strohmeier arrived on the Reiver campus in 2008 after spending the previous three seasons as the head coach at North Iowa Area Community College, where he turned a struggling program into a Top 20, post-season worthy football team. After taking a tough first year as the Trojans head coach, Strohmeier quickly established winning practices as his teams achieved 7-4 records each year and qualifying for the Graphics Edge Bowl twice. Before his time at North Iowa Area Community College in 2005, Strohmeier spent six years (1998-2003) at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a year as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Truman State University (2004). Strohmeier has been the quarterbacks coach at each stop in his coaching journey, which has helped him send six Reiver quarterbacks to higher levels of collegiate football, including schools such as Ole Miss, Iowa State and Maryland.
Before this season, Strohmeier's Reivers had sent 61 players to play in NCAA programs, with 28 going on to play at NCAA FBS schools.
About the ACCFCA: Community college football coaches are among the very best in the profession. In recent years, there have been two organizations, the California Community College Football Coaches Association and the National Junior College Football Coaches Association. Each organization had its own coach of the year. In 2000, the AFCA invited the organizations to meet at the AFCA Convention. Three national goals were set: to form a national community college football coaches' association, to study the possibility of a national championship game between the two organizations and to elect, yearly, a national coach of the year and to have that coach recognized by the AFCA.
