Robert Talley has engineered a 4-1 start for Stonehill, their best since 1996.

North Easton, Mass. - With the Stonehill football season at its midpoint and the Skyhawks sitting at 4-1 for the first time since 1996, now is the time to cast your vote for Stonehill head coach Robert Talley for the 2007 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, honoring college football coaches who best exemplify responsibility and excellence on and off the field of play.

Expanded from the inaugural 2006 award given to one winner (Greg Schiano, Rutgers), Liberty Mutual will present its 2007 award to a coach from all four NCAA divisions.

Each winner will receive $50,000 from Liberty Mutual to support his civic and charitable activities, $20,000 in scholarship to his school's alumni association, and will be recognized in the permanent Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year display at the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

The Skyhawks, who are 4-0 in the Northeast-10, rank first in the country in turnover margin at +12 and ninth in the nation in scoring defense, yielding only 11.6 points per game.

Fans across the country are encouraged to visit http://www.coachoftheyear.com/ until November 27 to vote for the college football coach who they believe embodies responsibility - not only to his own team and players, but also in society and in his community. All football head coaches at an NCAA-member college or university at all division levels are eligible for consideration.

The top 25 fan vote getters in each NCAA division will be scored using a model endorsed by the College Football Hall of Fame on such criteria as coaching excellence, sportsmanship and integrity, academic excellence and community commitment. The scoring will result in ten finalists in Division I-A (Football Bowl Subdivision) and five finalists from Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision), Division II, and Division III.

Fans return to http://www.coachoftheyear.com/ between December 5 and 15 to vote among the finalists. An elite committee comprised of College Football Hall of Fame coaches and players, and members of the national college football media also will cast votes to determine the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year in each division. Fan votes contribute 20 percent to each coach's final score, with the Hall of Fame voters and media contributing 55 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

A half-hour ABC/ESPN special will profile the four winners on December 29 at 5:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. PT).