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Blue Devils to Wear AFCA Patches Opening Weekend
8/26/2018 5:05:00 PM | Football
DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke football program opens the 2018 season Friday against Army West Point inside Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. For the contest, members of the Duke coaching staff will wear American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) patches on their shirts to bring awareness of and promote the association.
“For a second straight year, football coaching staffs will wear AFCA patches on their opening weekend games to help bring awareness of and information about the association to the general public,” AFCA Executive Director Todd Berry said. “The AFCA has been around for almost 100 years, and a lot of football fans don't know we even exist or what we are about. We are a world-wide organization that educates career football coaches and helps promote the football coaching profession.”
Founded in 1922, the AFCA currently has more than 11,000 members around the world ranging from the high school level to the professional ranks. According to its constitution, the AFCA was formed, in part, to “maintain the highest possible standards in football and in the coaching profession” and to “provide a forum for the discussion and study of all matters pertaining to football.”
Some of the early leaders of the AFCA were college football royalty, such as John Heisman and Amos Alonzo Stagg. Major Charles Daly, head coach at Army, organized the first meeting of college football coaches on December 27, 1921, which eventually led to the organization of the AFCA the following year. Daly served as the association's first president. Virtually all of the great coaches in college football have actively participated in the AFCA. Past presidents include such respected coaches as Alabama's Bear Bryant, Texas' Darrell Royal, Yale's Carmen Cozza, Grambling State's Eddie Robinson and Michigan's Bo Schembechler. The 2018 AFCA president is Bill Cronin, head coach at Georgetown (Ky.) College, who is the association's first-ever president from an NAIA school.
The AFCA has numerous programs that honor coaches and players, or help promote the game and the coaching profession. The AFCA works with Amway and USA TODAY Sports to administer the Amway Coaches Poll, which has a panel of FBS-level coaches who vote on the Top 25 teams in FBS each week during the season. The AFCA's first Top 25 poll was established in 1950, 15 years after the association started selecting a National Coach of the Year. The association also honors Regional Coaches of the Year and Assistant Coaches of the Year in FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and the NAIA.
On the player side, the AFCA began selecting an All-America Team in 1945 and now has first and second teams for all five of the four-year collegiate divisions. The association also honors student-athletes for their community service with the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®.
The AFCA will coordinate a multi-platform social media campaign throughout opening weekend using the hashtag #AFCAPatch. You can help the association by using the hashtag and tagging us (@WeAreAFCA) on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. For more information on the AFCA and its promotional patch weekend, visit www.afca.com or follow AFCA on social media. You may also call the AFCA office at 254-754-9900.
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