SAN ANGELO – Angelo State's head football coach Will Wagner has been selected as the American Football Coaches Association Region Four Coach of the Year after guiding the Rams to their most successful season since 1997.  

Wagner guided the Rams to a 9-3 record and to the NCAA Division II Playoffs for the first time since 2005. ASU won the LSC Playoff Championship with a 35-33 win over Texas A&M-Commerce and won its first round NCAA Division II playoff game in a thrilling 42-41 game over Michigan Tech. It was the first playoff win for the program since 1997. The Rams were 5-1 on the road including three wins over ranked opponents.

The Rams had 18 players named to the LSC All-Conference team highlighted by LSC Offensive Player of the Year and LSC Academic Player of the Year, Kyle Washington and LSC Defensive Lineman of the Year, Clayton Callicutt. Eight players were selected to the first team which is the most since 1994. Washington, Rush Seaver and Anthony Yancy were selected to the Daktronics All-Super Region Four team as well.

Wagner has a 24-21 overall record in four seasons as head coach at ASU.

Award History
The AFCA began recognizing district coaches of the year following the 1960 season. The awards were established the same year Eastman Kodak agreed to sponsor the AFCA Coach of the Year award. Prior to 1960, the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain had sponsored the program, which recognized one national Coach of the Year. The AFCA first recognized eight district winners in each of two divisions:university and college. In 1972, a ninth district was added in each division. In 1983, the award was changed to recognize regional winners instead of district winners, and the number of divisions was increased from two to four, and five regional winners were selected in each division. This resulted in a more equitable selection process and better represented the make-up of the membership. At the same time, the new system increased the number of honorees from 18 to 20. In 2006, the AFCA Division II Award was split into separate Division II and NAIA divisions, giving us the 25 winners the AFCA now recognize.