HAMILTON, Ontario — John Hufnagel made quite an impression in his first season as coach of the Calgary Stampeders: He led his team to the Grey Cup title and Tuesday was chosen the CFL's coach of the year.

Hufnagel, a former offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, won the award over two other first-year coaches, Marc Trestman of the Montreal Alouettes and Ken Miller of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The voting was done by the Football Reporters of Canada.

Under Hufnagel, Calgary had the league's best record at 13-5 and won the West Division. After beating British Columbia in the conference final, the Stampeders won the Grey Cup, 22-14 over Montreal, on Nov. 23.

Hufnagel was hired as the Stampeders' coach and general manager on Dec. 3, 2007. The former Penn State quarterback played 12 seasons in the CFL (1976-87) before moving into coaching. In the NFL, he was an assistant at Cleveland, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, New England and the Giants.