Muhlenberg College head football coach Nate Milne accepts the NCAA Division III Coach of the Year award at the American Football Coaches Association Convention in Nashville, Tenn. on Tuesday. Milne is a 1999 Jamestown High School graduate. Submitted photo

Nate Milne has carved out quite a football coaching resume since graduating from Hobart College in 2003, a journey that has taken him from Susquehanna University to Muhlenberg College and points in between.

On Tuesday, he received the biggest honor of all when the second-year mentor at Muhlenberg was named the NCAA Division III Coach of the Year at the American Football Coaches Association Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

A 1999 Jamestown High School graduate, Milne led the Mules to its best season in program history, going 13-1, winning the Centennial Conference and advancing to the semifinals of the Division III playoffs. Not only was it Muhlenberg’s first outright conference title since 2008, but it was also its first-ever trip to the semifinals.

Now 24-3 in his two seasons at the helm, Milne was also named the Centennial Conference Coach of the year to go along with this AFCA Division III Region 2 Coach of the Year. Furthermore, Milne is believed to be the first coach in any sport at Muhlenberg to be named national coach of the year.

“It was borderline surreal,” Milne said Wednesday afternoon, admitting that he had no advanced warning that he would be the winner. “(They) introduced all the nominees and then they played a video of the winner. All of a sudden it cuts to a piece on Muhlenberg.”

The next thing Milne knew, he was at the podium giving an acceptance speech.

“It was a culmination of a great season,” he said. “We have tremendous support from above, and it’s been a really good program for a number of years. … I happen to be the head football coach, but our guys know we have many, many people who are as responsible for this as I am.”

But there’s more honors yet to come for Milne, the married father of two young boys. Not only was he named Division III National Coach of the Year, but he was also selected the Andy Talley Regional Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club.

The Maxwell Football Club will be presented on March 6 at the 83rd Maxwell Club National Awards Gala at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Also slated to receive awards at the event are Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow of LSU (Maxwell Award), Chase Young of Ohio State (Chuck Bednarik Award), Ed Orgeron of LSU (George Munger Award) and NFL Hall-of-Famer Anthony Munoz (Tropicana Legends Award).

It’s been quite a journey for a young man who grew up in Jamestown wanting to be a Red Raider.

“I was at the (Carrier Dome) watching (running backs) David Hinson and P.J. Cotter (playing for a New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship in 1994),” Milne recalled. “I was never going to become those guys, because I (ended up) being 6-foot-3 and 270 pounds.”

On Tuesday, however, Milne stood tall among his college coaching peers.

“I thanked my staff, because we have future head football coaches,” he said. “I know they know that. They worked really, really hard.”

The Muhlenberg assistants were just following the lead of the man in charge.