Arruza Named Top State Coach by TD Club of Richmond
Randolph-Macon football coach Pedro Arruza has been selected as the recipient of the Willard Bailey Coach of the Year Award by the Touchdown Club of Richmond.
Arruza has won the award for three consecutive years and seven times overall during his 19-year tenure with the Yellow Jackets. The award recognizes the top coach in the state of Virginia in NCAA Division II and III as well as NAIA.
The Yellow Jackets had a record-setting season in 2022. R-MC went 10-0 during the regular season, the first squad in program history to reach double figures in wins. The Yellow Jackets were 7-0 in conference play to claim their 13th ODAC championship, the most in league history. Arruza was named ODAC Coach of the Year for the fifth time. R-MC hosted SUNY Cortland in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs and rallied for a 35-28 victory for the 11th win of the season. The Yellow Jackets would fall 39-32 at Delaware Valley in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs.
R-MC is one of six programs in NCAA Division III with nine or more wins in each of the past four full seasons (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). The Yellow Jackets have a 30-3 ODAC record since 2018 (.909). R-MC owns a 25-2 record since 2020 (.926) and has the top winning percentage of all programs in North Carolina and Virginia since 2018 (.860).
Mike London of William & Mary was named the Bobby Ross Coach of the Year for NCAA Division I.
The two honored coaches will be featured during the broadcast of the Dudley and Lanier Awards presentation, scheduled for this Saturday, December 10. This awards broadcast will air on WTVR-TV6, the local CBS affiliate in Richmond. The awards show will air following the national broadcast of the Army vs. Navy football game on CBS, which kicks-off at 3:00pm.
The Touchdown Club of Richmond is a 501(c)(3), sports-social organization, based in Richmond. The club promotes the best interests of the American game of football and sports in general, under the guidance of elected officers, with the predominate purpose being to recognize worthy athletes for their accomplishments.
The club's membership compiles a ballot of deserving head coaches from the football playing colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The ballot is then distributed to the club's membership for voting to determine the two coaches of the year, one from the NCAA Division I level (10 colleges) and one from the NCAA Division II, III/NAIA/USCAA/NCCAA levels (16 colleges), to be honored by the Touchdown Club of Richmond.
The two Coach of the Year awards are named for legendary football coaches, Bobby Ross and Willard Bailey, who were both born in the Commonwealth of Virginia and had legendary coaching careers:
Bobby Ross is a native of Richmond, having graduated from Benedictine High School and the Virginia Military Institute. He spent 18 years as a collegiate football coach, winning 103 games including the 1990 national championship with Georgia Tech. At the professional level, he was a head coach for nine seasons, which included leading the San Diego Chargers to the 1994 AFC Championship and their lone Super Bowl appearance, Super Bowl XXIX.
Willard Bailey is a native of Suffolk, having graduated from Norfolk State University. He spent 40 years as a college football coach, winning 238 games during a career on the sidelines at Virginia Union (22 years), Norfolk State (9 years), Saint Paul's (6 years), and Virginia-Lynchburg (3 years). His coaching win total of 238 ranks 16th all-time in NCAA Division II and trails only Jimmye Laycock (249 wins, all at William & Mary) for most coaching wins with a Virginia collegiate program. He was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame on June 19, 2021.
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