SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – For the fifth time in his career, Kansas State’s Bill Snyder has been named national coach of the year as the legendary head coach earned the prestigious 2012 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award Monday, the foundation announced during halftime of the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

The annual Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year presented by the Chick-fil-A Bowl winner is determined by a vote from all previous winners of the award, plus a vote from a blue-ribbon panel made up from the “who’s who” in college football.

“The entire K-State family congratulates Coach Snyder on being named the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year,” said Athletics Director John Currie. “What makes this award even more special is its focus on character and academic excellence, in addition to a team’s success on the field, and Coach Snyder is the epitome of those values.”

Predicted to finish sixth in the Big 12 prior to the season, the Wildcats tallied an 11-1 record, including an 8-1 mark in Big 12 play to capture the school’s third conference championship and first since 2003. Snyder guided Kansas State to its seventh 11-win season, but only the second 11-win regular season (1998).

In addition being named the 2012 Big 12 Coach of the Year by both the Associated Press and his fellow coaches, Snyder was also named a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award for the second straight season as well as being a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award and a semifinalist for the Maxwell Coach of the Year Award. The legendary coach was also the 1998 recipient of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award.

Snyder led K-State to a school-record six wins against ranked opponents in 2012, including its conference-championship clinching victory over No. 18 Texas. Additionally, the Wildcats obtained their first-ever No. 1 ranking the BCS standings earlier this year.

Named the 32nd head football coach at K-State on November 30, 1988, and again as the 34th on November 24, 2008, Snyder has amassed a 170-84-1 (.669) record during his tenure with the Wildcats, including an 97-65-1 (.598) mark in Big 8/12 games. His 170 victories are the 11th-most among active FBS coaches and are more than triple the man in second place on K-State’s all-time coaching victories list.

The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award was established in 1976 to honor the NCAA Division 1 football coach whose program represents the highest ideals on and off the field. The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award honors the coach of a team which enjoys a successful football season, while also stressing the importance of academic excellence and character, as did Coach Dodd’s teams during his 22 years as head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

The formal presentation of the 2012 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award presented by the Chick-fil-A Bowl to Coach Snyder will be made on the Kansas State University campus later this spring.

No. 5 Kansas State faces fourth-ranked Oregon (11-1, 8-1 Pac-12) in the 2013 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on January 3, in Glendale, Ariz. The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. (CT) at University of Phoenix Stadium and will be televised by ESPN.