Former Ohio State Star Mike Vrabel Wins AP NFL Coach of the Year Award for Second Time

 

By Dan Hope on February 5, 2026 at 9:46 pm @dan_hope

Mike Vrabel is officially the NFL’s best coach for the 2025 season.

After leading the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl, Vrabel won the AP NFL Coach of the Year award at Thursday night’s NFL Honors.

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Vrabel, who previously won the award in 2021 as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, becomes the seventh coach in NFL history to win the award with two different teams.

The former Ohio State defensive end orchestrated one of the NFL’s all-time great turnarounds in his first season with the Patriots. Taking over a team that went 4-13 in 2024, Vrabel led the Patriots to a 14-3 regular-season record and a run through the AFC playoffs, earning them a spot in Sunday’s Super Bowl (6:30 p.m., NBC) against the Seattle Seahawks.

The only Buckeye to win AP NFL Coach of the Year honors, Vrabel – who won three Super Bowls as a player for the Patriots – will now be the second former Ohio State player to coach in the Super Bowl as a head coach, joining Don McCafferty, who led the Baltimore Colts to a win over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V. 

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2026/02/161472/former-ohio-state-star-mike-vrabel-wins-ap-nfl-coach-of-the-year-award-for-second-time