FootballScoop is proud to announce that Anthony Campanile is the 2017 FootballScoop Defensive Backs Coach of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.
In Campanile's first season on the job at Boston College, the Eagles were middle of the pack in pass defense categories. BC ranked 75th nationally in pass efficiency defense, 44th in yards per attempt allowed, 37th in opponent completion percentage and surrendered 28 passing touchdowns against 12 interceptions.
In Campanile's second season on the job, Boston College was elite.
The Eagles allowed completions on 51.4 percent of attempts, good for seventh nationally, and those passes went for just 6.1 yards per attempt, which placed 13th. BC allowed just nine passing touchdowns, fourth nationally, in 395 passes defended -- the most among all teams that permitted single-digit touchdown passes.
More than balancing out the nine touchdowns allowed, Boston College snared 18 interceptions, which tied for fifth nationally.
Boston College and Alabama were the only FBS teams to intercept twice as many passes as touchdowns allowed.
Add it all up and you get a team that posted a 100.75 pass efficiency defense rating, fourth-lowest in major college football and nine points better than any team that defended as many as 395 passes, as the Eagles did.
Safety Lukas Denis led the club and the nation with seven interceptions, and his 185 return yards were the most in college football. Three players added two picks and five more players added one pick. As a team, Boston College intercepted at least one pass in 11 of its 12 regular season games, and corralled three picks in three games -- a 28-8 win over Central Michigan, a 41-10 trouncing of Virginia and a 39-16 blowout of Connecticut. Meanwhile, Boston College also posted two separate streaks of three straight games without allowing a passing touchdown. The Eagles also limited Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant to 17-of-26 passing for 140 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions -- his worst outing of the season. BC also limited Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson to his second-lowest passer rating of the season.
Denis was selected as a Second Team All-ACC performer.
A Rutgers graduate, Campanile began his career as a student assistant at his alma mater, then spent six seasons in the New Jersey high school ranks. He returned to the college game as a defensive assistant at Rutgers in 2012, and was then promoted to tight ends and later wide receivers coach. He joined the BC staff as defensive backs coach in 2016.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by ProGrass are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Derrick Ansley [Alabama], Archie Collins [Central Michigan], Chad Glasgow/Paul Gonzales [TCU], Brian Smith/Michael Zordich [Michigan] and Campanile) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Campanile will receive his award and be recognized at an event at the AFCA Convention in January.
Previous winners of the Defensive Backs Coach of the Year award are Tim Billings (Wake Forest, 2008), Everett Withers and Troy Douglas (North Carolina, 2009), Chad Glasgow and Clay Jennings (TCU, 2010), Ron Cooper (LSU, 2011), Bill Busch and Kendrick Shaver (Utah State, 2012), Jeremy Pruitt (Florida State, 2013), Dave Wommack and Jason Jones (Ole Miss, 2014), Mike Reed (Clemson, 2015) and Charles Clark and Joe Tumpkin (Colorado, 2016).
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