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Heupel, Kelly, Saban named finalists

UCF’s Josh Heupel, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Alabama’s Nick Saban are the finalists for The Associated Press national college football coach of the year after leading their teams to unbeaten regular seasons.

The winner will be announced today at noon.

Heupel guided No. 7 Central Florida (12-0) to a second consecutive unbeaten season. The American Athletic Conference champions will play No. 11 LSU in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. Kelly led the third-ranked Fighting Irish (12-0) to its first College Football Playoff appearance. The Irish play No. 2 Clemson in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 29. Saban has No. 1 Alabama (13-0) in the playoff for the fifth consecutive season. The Crimson Tide won the Southeastern Conference and face No. 4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 29.

The AP coach of the year was established in 1998. Saban is one of two coaches to win the award twice, along with Gary Patterson of TCU. Saban was coach of the year with LSU in 2003 and with Alabama in 2008.

Kelly won coach of the year in 2012, the last time he led Notre Dame to a 12-0 season.

Last year’s winner was Scott Frost of UCF. No school has ever had different coaches win the award in consecutive seasons.

FIU RB to miss bowl

MIAMI — FIU running back Shawndarrius Phillips will not accompany the team to the Bahamas Bowl this week, following his arrest on a domestic violence charge.

Phillips was arrested Dec. 12, nearly six months after the alleged incident took place.

Court records show a woman who had dated the player filed a report on June 18 with the Broward County sheriff’s office and claimed Phillips choked her. The case was disposed in August. However, records also show a second case stemming from the same incident was opened at that time and a warrant for Phillips’ arrest was issued Aug. 24.

Phillips appeared in 11 games for the Panthers, rushing for 393 yards and four touchdowns. Court records do not show if he has retained an attorney, and FIU officials have declined comment.

Mizzou assistant arrested

COLUMBIA, Mo. — An assistant football coach at the University of Missouri-Columbia has been arrested for missing a court date on a traffic ticket.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Vernon Hargreaves was arrested Saturday after a University Police officer discovered an arrest warrant related to a court date Hargreaves missed last January.

University Police spokeswoman Sara Deidrich says Hargreaves was ticketed in Miller County, Missouri, for operating a vehicle without valid insurance or registration in December 2017. After he was arrested Saturday, Hargreaves posted $1,000 bond and was released.

Missouri spokesman Chad Moller says the university is aware of the situation, but it is still gathering more information.

The 56-year-old Hargreaves coaches inside linebackers for Missouri. He has been with the team for about a year after coaching at Arkansas for the previous three years.

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