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Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre wins AP Coach of the Year

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2016, file photo, Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre works the sidelines against Oregon in an NCAA college football game, in Eugene, Ore. Colorado's Mike MacIntyre is The Associated Press college football Coach of the Year after leading the Buffaloes to a 10-3 record and their first bowl game since 2007. In four years, MacIntyre's turned a program that was regarded as one of the nation's worst into a Pac-12 title contender. (AP Photo/Thomas Boyd, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2016, file photo, Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre works the sidelines against Oregon in an NCAA college football game, in Eugene, Ore. Colorado's Mike MacIntyre is The Associated Press college football Coach of the Year after leading the Buffaloes to a 10-3 record and their first bowl game since 2007. In four years, MacIntyre's turned a program that was regarded as one of the nation's worst into a Pac-12 title contender. (AP Photo/Thomas Boyd, File) FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2016, file photo, Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre works the sidelines against Oregon in an NCAA college football game, in Eugene, Ore. Colorado's Mike MacIntyre is The Associated Press college football Coach of the Year after leading the Buffaloes to a 10-3 record and their first bowl game since 2007. In four years, MacIntyre's turned a program that was regarded as one of the nation's worst into a Pac-12 title contender. (AP Photo/Thomas Boyd, File)

By Associated Press 4 min read

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) – Mike MacIntyre has the reputation as a turnaround artist. Give him a program, any program, and he will transform it.

Colorado, though, had the looks of being the sort of program that not even MacIntyre could fix.

After three years that resulted in a grand total of 10 victories, MacIntyre led the 11th-ranked Buffaloes to a 10-win season, a spot in the Pac-12 Championship game and even onto the fringes of the national-title conversation for a week or two. Colorado also will make its first bowl appearance since 2007.

For that, MacIntyre is The Associated Press college football Coach of the Year. He received 109 points and 25 first-place votes from the AP college football poll panel, while Penn State’s James Franklin was second with 98 and 16. Alabama’s Nick Saban was third with 57 and 13.

“We played a lot of young guys and they worked hard and got better,” explained MacIntyre, who became the first Colorado coach to win the award since it began in 1998. “They grew into their talent and kept right on going.”