The Don Shula High School Coach of the Year Award is the highest youth coaching honor given out by the NFL. It honors the top high-school football coach in the country.
One guy that's in the running is coaching right here in the Valley: Scottsdale Saguaro High School's Jason Mohns.
"I've got a lot of calls from former players, former parents of our program, college coaches, and other high school coaches I've gotten to know," Mohns said. "That's when you realize it's a big deal and it's an honor because the outpouring of support and people that just want to call and congratulate me was awesome."
The nomination should come as no surprise: In December, Mohns became the first coach in Arizona history to win five straight state championships.
"It's been quite a run. Something that we've been gunning for," Mohns said. "We had to work for it, we had some close games that we pulled out and found a way to win when it counted."
Coach Mohns was nominated for the Don Shula Award by the Arizona Cardinals. If he wins, he'll receive $15,000 from the NFL Foundation, with $10,000 donated to the Saguaro High football program.
"Just happy to be in the mix. No expectations," Mohns said. "If I am able to win, obviously to be able to give back to our program and put some money -- we work so hard and our kids and families work so hard to raise money to support our program -- it'd be nice as a coach to be able to put a little in and give back to them a little bit for all the hard work they've done."
Coach Mohns and the other 31 nominees will head to Orlando later this month, where the winner will be announced in the third quarter of this year's Pro Bowl. The game will begin Jan. 28 at 1 p.m. Arizona time on ESPN and ABC.
