Two District 5 Coaches Nominated for Best High School Football Coach in SC

USA TODAY High School Sports is asking fans to choose the best high school football coach in the country in a contest that opened Monday. Among the coaches? Irmo's Bob Hanna and Dutch Fork's Tom Knotts.

The two coaches are among eight active head football coaches in South Carolina selected for the competition. USA TODAY selected the coaches after more than a month of conversations with local media and other state/school officials with high school football expertise. From there, the fans will decide which coach emerges from a list of 408 across the nation.

There will be three rounds of voting. The state round began noon Sept. 30 and ends at noon Oct. 8. The 51 winners – each state plus Washington, D.C. - advance to a regional round, where they will be divided among eight regions of six or seven coaches apiece. The regional round begins at noon Oct. 9 and ends at noon Oct. 18. The eight regional winners move onto the national round, which starts at noon Oct. 21 and ends at noon Oct. 29. The champion is crowned based on most votes in the final round.

The athletic department of the winning coach will receive $2,000. Second through fifth places also receive cash prizes for the athletic departments: second ($1,000), third ($500), fourth ($250) and fifth ($100). All eight finalists receive banners for their schools.

To read more about the contest, go to:http://contest.usatodayhss.com/