Since taking over the Cardinal program in 2011, Shaw, also the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, has invested his time creating winners on and off the field.

"We are proud to present college football's most prestigious coaching award to Coach Shaw this year," Dodd Foundation chairman Jim Terry said. "Coach Dodd always emphasized that a coach's role reached well beyond the football field into all aspects of life. Coach Shaw truly exemplifies the spirit of the award with his continued commitment to excellence in the classroom, on the football field and throughout the community."

The Dodd Trophy, presented annually by the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, honors the college football coach whose program embodies the award's three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, while also having success on the playing field throughout the season.

Shaw joins Clark Shaughnessy and Chuck Taylor as Stanford national coach of the year honorees. Shaughnessy won the AFCA Coach of the Year honor in 1940 and Taylor earned the same award in 1951.

Stanford's David Shaw was named recipient of the Dodd Trophy on Sunday. The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation announced the award on Sunday.

Stanford became the first university in the country to sign the Set The Expectation student pledge, stating they would use their platforms to speak out against sexual assault and violence against women.

Last year, he was the only head football coach named to the NCAA Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence. In addition to his work with the commission, Shaw has been a leading advocate of the Set The Expectation program, aimed at working to end the culture of sexual assault and domestic violence among college and high school athletes.

To cap off the season, two Stanford student-athletes earned Academic All-America honors, marking the first time since 2010 two Cardinal players have earned this honor in the same season.

In the classroom, his student-athletes have maintained a high level of academic excellence earning an Academic Progress Rating (APR) score of 985 and a graduation success rate of 96 percent, numbers that earned Stanford a spot amongside Clemson, Duke, Northwestern and Wisconsin as the only FBS football teams to earn APR Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA in each of the past four years.

Shaw was one of seven finalists for the award which included Paul Chryst (Wisconsin), Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern), former Stanford quarterback Scott Frost (UCF), Mark Richt (Miami), Kirby Smart (Georgia) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson).

Stanford clinched the Pac-12 North Division and made its fourth Pac-12 Championship Game appearance under Shaw. Stanford has posted eight or more wins in nine consecutive seasons.

After opening the season 1-2, Stanford won eight of its final nine regular-season games, including victories over No. 9 Washington and No. 8 Notre Dame over the final three weeks of the season.

The award honors the coach of a team which enjoys a successful football season, while also stressing the importance of academic excellence and character, as did Dodd's teams during his 22 years as head coach at Georgia Tech.

The Dodd Trophy was established in 1976 to honor the FBS head coach whose program represents the highest ideals on and off the field.

Stanford's Shaw earns Dodd Trophy for Coach of the Year