SAN ANTONIO, TX – The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) capped 2019 AFCA Convention on Tuesday evening by presenting its top coaching award – AFCA National Coach of the Year – to five outstanding coaches representing each of the four divisions of the NCAA and the NAIA for the 2018 season.
 
Among the five were late Johns Hopkins coach Jim Margraff, who was honored as the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year.  Margraff, who had previously been named the 2018 D3football.com National Coach of the Year, passed away suddenly on January 2.
 
Johns Hopkins offensive coordinator Greg Chimera and defensive coordinator Mickey Rehring accepted the award on Margraff's behalf.
 
In addition to Margraff, the other recipients of the AFCA National Coach of the Year awards for the 2018 season included Mike Leach of Washington St. (FBS), Joe Harasymiak of Maine (FCS), Drew Cronic of Lenoir-Rhyne (Division II) and Steve Ryan of Morningside (NAIA).
 
The winners are selected by a vote of active AFCA members at four-year schools in the association's five divisions. The AFCA has named a Coach of the Year since 1935. The AFCA Coach of the Year award is the oldest and most prestigious of all the Coach of the Year awards and is the only one chosen exclusively by coaches.
 
Margraff guided the Blue Jays to a 12-2 record, a 10^th straight Centennial Conference title and an eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Playoffs.  Johns Hopkins advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the first time in school history and the 12 wins the Blue Jays amassed in 2018 are a school record. 
 
The selection as the AFCA National Coach of the Year boosts Margraff's total number of Coach of the Year honors to 12 as he adds this to his previous selections as the D3football.com National Coach of the Year in 2018, the D3football.com South Region Coach of the Year (2011, 2018), the AFCA Regional Coach of the Year (2011, 2014, 2016, 2018) and the Centennial Conference Coach of the Year (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016).
 
Margraff ended the 2018 season with a 29-year record of 221-89-3 (.711) since taking over at Johns Hopkins in 1990.  He is the winningest coach in Johns Hopkins and Centennial Conference history and his 221 wins are also the most of any college football coach in Maryland state history.  Among active Division III head coaches, he ranked third in career wins at the conclusion of the 2018 season.