Spartans Mark Dantonio top five in Coach of the Year voting

Oregon athletic officials were so convinced Chip Kelly was destined to be head coach of the Ducks they offered him the job before it came open. Smart move.

In just his second season leading Oregon, Kelly is taking the second-ranked Ducks to the national championship game on Jan. 10 against No. 1 Auburn — and for that he was voted AP Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
Kelly received 24 of 55 votes to beat out his BCS title game counterpart, Gene Chizik of Auburn, who had 17 votes.
Stanford's Jim Harbaugh was third with five votes, TCU's Gary Patterson, last year's winner, and Mark Dantonio of Michigan State each received three votes. Nevada's Chris Ault, Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy and Mike Haywood, who led Miami, Ohio, to a Mid-American Conference championship before taking the top job at Pittsburgh last week, each received a vote.