WACO, Texas – The honors keep rolling in for the 2022 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national champions Northwestern College football team and head coach Matt McCarty. McCarty was voted the 2022 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) NAIA Coach of the Year, the organization announced today.
McCarty was named the NAIA Region IV Coach of the Year by the AFCA back on December 6, earning the honor for the second time in his tenure in Orange City and his first time outright.
After going 13-1 (9-1 GPAC), winning 13-straight after Week 1, the Red Raiders went on to claim the 2022 NAIA national title for the third time in program history, and the first time since 1983 under Larry “Bub” Korver. Northwestern defeated Keiser University (Fla.) 35-25 with 28 second half points to take home the national title back to Northwest Iowa.
In his seventh season leading the football program, McCarty has compiled an overall record of 67-18 (.788) and 52-11 (.825) in Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play. He has posted a record of 10-5 (.667) in NAIA Football Championship Series (FCS) play and one national title (2022).
Since the AFCA began presenting national coach of the year honors at the NAIA level in 2006, McCarty becomes the eighth GPAC winner of the 16 seasons it has been awarded. He joins former GPAC member and then University of Sioux Falls coach Kalen DeBoer (2006, 2008-09) and Morningside University’s Steve Ryan (2012, 2018-19, 2021) to win the AFCA national award in the league.
The award was presented at the annual AFCA Convention out in Charlotte, N.C., where McCarty and staff were in attendance to celebrate the honor. The winners are selected by a vote of the active AFCA members at four-year schools in the Association’s five divisions (FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III, and NAIA).
