Hall of Fame Ballot Announcement

IRVING, Texas – Former Slippery Rock University head football coach George Mihalik is one of 40 coaches to be listed on the 2021 College Football Hall of Fame ballot that was announced Tuesday by the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
The complete ballot includes seven coaches from the Division I FBS ranks and 33 coaches from other levels of college football, along with 78 players from Division I FBS schools and 99 players from other divisions.
 
The criteria for a coach to be considered for the College Football Hall of Fame states that they must have been a head coach for at least 10 years, must have coached at least 100 games and must have a career winning percentage of at least .600. Players must be named to at least one credible first team All-America honor and have finished their collegiate career more than 10 years ago to be nominated.
 
Mihalik served as head coach at Slippery Rock for 28 seasons from 1988 to 2015, when he retired from a long career as both a professor and coach at the University. He also starred as the starting quarterback at The Rock in the early 1970s and served as an assistant coach before taking over in 1988. In total, Mihalik was involved with the SRU football program for 44 years.
 
He came to Slippery Rock in 1970 and was a three-year starter as a quarterback, leading the squad to back-to-back conference championships in 1972 and 1973 and an overall record of 25-5-1 as a starting quarterback. He became a graduate assistant with the program, then an assistant coach and eventually was named head coach in 1988. Mihalik served as the head coach for 28 seasons, compiling a school record 197 wins, a .638 career winning percentage (197-111-4), winning eight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Championships and reaching the NCAA Division II playoffs six times, including each of his last three years. He was named PSAC Coach of the Year six times and Super Region One Coach of the Year three times.
 
All told, Mihlaik's teams recorded 22 winning seasons in 28 years and just five seasons below .500. He led the program to a record of 111-42 in home games (.725 winning percentage) and closed his career by winning his final 17 straight home games over three years from 2013-15.
 
Mihalik, who had his name added to the football stadium at SRU in 2011, took Slippery Rock to six NCAA Division II playoff appearances, reaching as far as the national semifinals and ranking as high as No. 2 in the Division II national rankings.
 
He coached a total of 50 first team All-Americans, 132 first team All-PSAC selections and an impressive 11 first team CoSIDA Academic All-Americans during his 28 years as a head coach. A vast majority of the SRU record holders were recruited by and played for coaching staffs led by Mihalik, including NFL starting offensive lineman Brandon Fusco and NCAA all-time career sack record holder Marcus Martin.
 
Equally, if not more impressive, is the fact Mihalik was one of the few coaches in the nation that had a doctorate degree and managed all of his coaching successes while also serving as a full professor in the SRU department of safety management. He was integral in developing the curriculum for the safety management program and continued teaching and advising students all the way through his final semester as head coach in the fall of 2015.
 
Since retirement, Mihalik has continued to serve Slippery Rock and currently works with the SRU Foundation to raise money that significantly impacts the students at SRU on an annual basis.
 
Mihalik is already a member of five different Halls of Fame, including the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame, the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and the Bishop Carroll High School Hall of Fame.
 
The College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2021 will be selected after more than 12,000 National Football Foundation members and current Hall of Famers submit their votes to the National Football Foundation's Honors Courts, which will deliberate and select the class. The FBS Honors Court is chaired by two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin and the Divisional Honors Court is chaired by former Marshall head coach Jack Lengyel.
 
The announcement of the 2021 College Football Hall of Fame class will be made in early 2021. The class will be inducted Dec. 7, 2021 at the annual National Football Foundation Awards Dinner in New York City.



To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).