The Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia has established a new annual college football coaching award named after Penn State Nittany Lions Head Coach Joe Paterno.

Selection criteria for the Joseph V. Paterno Award have not yet been revealed. The Maxwell Club currently honors college coaches with two established awards, the George Munger Coach of the Year Award and the Tri-State Coach of the Year Award. The 2009 Munger award went to Gary Patterson, Head Football Coach of Texas Christian University, while Temple University Head Football Coach Al Golden was selected as 2009 Tri-State Coach of the Year.

This Turkey’s conjecture is that the Joseph V. Paterno Award will honor superior lifetime college coaching contributions and accomplishments. As it would be gauche for Joe to win an award named after him, this Turkey’s first three selections are Paul “Bear” Bryant (posthumously), Eddie Robinson (posthumously), and Bobby Bowden. I believe that Joe would also pick those three. That ought to prime the pump for the first few years.

Yeah, I know that Bryant died in 1983 and Robinson died in 2007. But if you’re going to hand out an award for lifetime coaching achievements in the modern eras, you have to include those three. Besides, you don’t want Bobby to be the first recipient, do you?

Feel fortunate that I didn’t go back to Ara Parseghian, Bud Wilkinson, and Knute Rockne.

At tonight’s awards banquet, held in Atlantic City, the Maxwell Football Club will award 14 separate awards to football players and coaches from high school, college, and professional programs. In addition to the coaching awards mentioned in the previous paragraph, 2009 college honorees will include University of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy (73rd Maxwell Award, for college football player of the year) and Nebraska defensive tackle  Ndamukong Suh (13th annual Chuck Bednarik Award, for defensive player of the year).

From the pro ranks, Quarterback Drew Brees and Head Coach Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints will receive the 2009 Bert Bell Player of the Year and the 2009 Greasy Neale Coach of the year, respectively.

Ron Jaworski is the sitting president of the Maxwell Football Club, which is headquartered in Philadelphia.