UC Davis was picked to finish ninth in the preseason Big Sky Conference football polls, yet the Aggies won their season opener against San Jose State of the FBS, earned a share of the Big Sky title, captured a playoff berth and a first-round bye and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the FCS playoffs.

Now, UC Davis head coach Dan Hawkins has been named the 2018 Eddie Robinson Award winner, STATS FCS announced Wednesday. The award is given to the top coach in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Hawkins will be presented the award at the STATS FCS Awards Banquet on Jan. 4 in Frisco, Texas, on the eve of the national championship game.

“We have really talented players — it all starts there — a talented staff,” Hawkins said in a Big Sky-issued press release. “But none of that happens, or comes together unless you have leadership that says, ‘We can work together to create one of the best academic schools in the country, and we can succeed in sports.’ They are not mutually exclusive from one another.”

In his second season with the Aggies, Hawkins took a team that posted back-to-back 2-9 records and tallied a program-best 10-3 mark overall and a 7-1 league record. The Aggies won as many as six consecutive games, in addition to earning their first-ever national ranking (ranked as high as No. 4); all UC Davis Division I program records.

UC Davis’ overall win total against Division I opponents this season equaled that of the four years preceding Hawkins’ arrival. The Aggies captured their first-ever Big Sky championship and advanced to the FCS playoffs for the first time in school history, picking up a victory in the second round.

Hawkins becomes the fourth coach in Big Sky history to win the Robinson Award. Nevada’s Chris Ault (1991), Montana’s Joe Glenn (2000) and Portland State’s Bruce Barnum (2015) have all received the honor.

Hawkins was also twice named the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year while he was at Boise State.

A national panel of over 150 sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries voted on the award following the regular season.