Tweet #WinTheMoment

Eastern Illinois football head coach Chris Wilkerson finishing sixth in voting for this year's Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year Award presented by FedEx Ground with the winner announced on Thursday morning (Dec. 7).

Wilkerson engineered one of the best turnarounds in the FCS this season guiding the Panthers from 2-9 in his first season in 2022 to an 8-3 record this season.
 
He was named the inaugural Big South-OVC Football Association Coach of the Year this season in just his second season guiding his alma mater.
 
The Panthers were listed as one of the last four teams left out of this year's FCS playoffs after winning their fourth straight game with a road win at Robert Morris to close out the regular season.
 
EIU was ranked No. 24 in the final AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25 poll earlier today marking the 18th time in school history the program has been nationally ranked.
 
Wilkerson is the third EIU head coach to be a finalist for the Robinson Award.  Bob Spoo was a four-time finalist finishing as high as second in the voting in 2000.   Dino Babers was a two-time finalist and the runner-up for the award in 2013.

The announcement comes a day after running back MJ Flowers was named the runner-up for this year's Jerry Rice Award presented to the nation's top FCS freshman.

2023 Eddie Robinson Award Voting Results
Following is a breakdown of the voting results. A first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place vote four points, a third-place vote three points, a fourth-place vote two points and a fifth-place vote one point. The final number is the combined point total.
1. Jimmy Rogers, South Dakota State: 16-8-8-2-4-144
2. Greg Gattuso, UAlbany: 9-10-11-6-0-130
3. Bobby Hauck, Montana: 10-12-7-3-1-126
4. Bob Nielson, South Dakota: 8-7-9-3-4-105
5. Willie Simmons, Florida A&M: 3-1-4-5-5-46
6. Chris Wilkerson, Eastern Illinois: 2-2-4-5-4-44
7. John Troxell, Lafayette: 0-5-1-6-6-41
8. Clay Hendrix, Furman: 1-2-5-5-2-40
9. Scotty Walden, Austin Peay: 2-2-0-6-8-38
10. Trei Oliver, North Carolina Central: 0-1-3-7-3-30
11. Mark Ferrante, Villanova: 0-2-1-2-6-21
12. Todd Stepsis, Drake: 1-1-0-4-2-19
13. Larry Scott, Howard: 1-2-0-0-3-16
14. Pete Rossomando, Lamar: 2-0-0-0-1-11
15. Todd Whitten, Tarleton: 0-1-1-0-2-9
16. Tre Lamb, Gardner-Webb: 1-0-0-1-1-8
17. Tim Murphy, Harvard: 0-0-1-1-0-5
18. Danny Rocco, VMI: 0-0-1-0-1-4
19. Tim Rebowe, Nicholls: 0-0-0-0-2-2
20. Jerry Schmitt, Duquesne: 0-0-0-0-1-1