THE FLATS – Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner is one of 57 NCAA Division I FBS coaches nominated for the 2023 Broyles Award. Named in honor of Georgia Tech alumnus and three-sport letterwinner Frank Broyles, the Broyles Award is presented annually to college football’s top assistant coach.
In his first season with the Yellow Jackets, Faulkner has overseen one of the biggest offensive improvements in all of college football. After finishing 114th and 124th nationally in total offense and scoring offense last season, Georgia Tech ranks 24th and 35th nationally in those categories this season. Tech’s offense is the second-most improved in FBS in terms of points per game (+14.8/game) and the third-most improved in terms of yards per game (+119.0/game).
Under Faulkner’s direction, the Yellow Jackets have amassed at least 470 yards of offense and scored at least 30 points five times apiece this season. In the four seasons prior to Faulkner’s arrival on The Flats (2019-22), Tech had just two games with 470 or more yards and only nine outings in which they scored 30 or more points.
Jackets that have thrived in Faulkner’s offense this season include quarterback Haynes King (one of only two players in the nation with at least 2,400 passing yards, 500 rushing yards, 24 passing touchdowns and six rushing touchdowns), running back Jamal Haynes (three 100-yard rushing games in his first season as a RB) and wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. (leads all true freshmen nationally in receiving yards and touchdown receptions and is just one touchdown catch shy of the Georgia Tech freshman record shared by Calvin Johnson-2004 and Ahmarean Brown-2019).
Frank Broyles lettered in football, basketball and baseball at Georgia Tech, where he was an All-America quarterback on the gridiron, an all-conference guard on the hardwood and a team captain on the diamond. His 304 passing yards in the 1945 Orange Bowl versus Tulsa stood as the game’s record until Michigan’s Tom Brady broke it in 2000.
After being selected in both the 1946 NFL Draft and 1947 NBA Draft, Broyles instead became an assistant football coach at Baylor and Florida before returning to Tech to under Bobby Dodd, helping lead the Yellow Jackets to six-straight bowl games from 1951-56 (including the 1953 Sugar Bowl, where the Jackets beat Ole Miss to clinch the 1952 national championship). Broyles left Tech to become the head coach at Missouri (1957), then Arkansas, where he led the football program for 19 seasons (1958-76) before serving as the Razorbacks’ athletics director for 33 years.
The Broyles Award was established in his honor in 1996 to recognize the nation’s top assistant coach. It joins the Heisman Trophy (college football player of the year), Bobby Dodd Award (college football coach of the year) and Homer Rice Award (college athletics director of the year) as major awards all named after individuals with roots at Georgia Tech.
The 57 nominees for the 2023 Broyles Award were selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 131 FBS programs nationally. A selection committee of former head coaches, broadcasters and members of the Football Writers Association of America will select 15 semifinalists, five finalists and an overall winner from the list of 57 nominees.
Faulkner and the Yellow Jackets return to action on Saturday when they host Syracuse at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and the primetime telecast will air nationally on ACC Network.
Tickets remain for Georgia Tech’s final two home games of the regular season – Saturday versus Syracuse and Nov. 25 against archrival Georgia (7:30 p.m.). Click HERE to purchase tickets online.
Competitive Drive Initiative Turn 2
Looking to build on the success of last year’s Competitive Drive Initiative, Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Foundation and Georgia Tech athletics are partnering once again to launch Competitive Drive Initiative Turn 2. CDI Turn 2 has a goal of raising $2.5 million in new gifts to the Alexander-Tharpe Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund by Dec. 31, and Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Foundation will match eligible gifts to accelerate the impact for Tech athletics. Like last year, not only will gifts to CDI Turn 2 be matched, but so will the contributor’s benefits in the way of A-T Fund giving levels and priority points. To learn more and contribute online, visit atfund.org/turn2.
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