Overview The Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards are college football's coach-of-the-year honors, handed out at a January banquet in Houston that the American Heart Association owns and runs, with all proceeds going to its work against heart disease. Bryant died of a heart attack in 1983, and his family partnered with the AHA in 1986; the coach of the year award, which began in 1957, took his name that year. Beside Coach of the Year the program gives Lifetime Achievement, Heart of a Champion, Newcomer Coach of the Year, fan-vote and conference awards, and names a National Coach of the Week during the season. CBS Sports Network televises the ceremony in the days after the national championship game. Audience The banquet is a Houston business room: the awards describe their guests as C-suite leaders from energy and healthcare companies. Outside the room, the fan vote and the weekly Coach of the Week keep the awards in front of college football fans through the season. Talent and Influencers Curt Cignetti won Coach of the Year for 2025, the season Indiana went 16-0 and won the national championship. At the same January 2026 banquet Phillip Fulmer, the former Tennessee coach, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, Mike Leach was honored posthumously with the Heart of a Champion Award and James Madison's Bob Chesney won the fan vote for a second time. Earlier Coach of the Year winners include Marcus Freeman (2024), Mike Norvell (2023), Sonny Dykes (2022), Luke Fickell (2021), Nick Saban (2020) and Ed Orgeron (2019), and Dabo Swinney won it three times. Voters include the National Sports Media Association, active NCAA head coaches, past winners and the Bryant family. Track record The January 2026 banquet was the program's 40th. The 2025 ceremony aired three times on CBS Sports, on January 22, 24 and 26, and the awards counted 61.8 million in reach for social media mentions of the 2025 campaign. Brand presence The top position is the presenting sponsor, whose name goes in front of the awards: Accenture presented the 2025 awards and Memorial Hermann Health System the 2026 awards. Sponsorships are tax-deductible 501(c)(3) contributions to the AHA, and each one carries a community-impact initiative that the sponsor and the AHA agree on together, alongside recognition through the awards campaign.