Fantastic Programs Spotlight Winners of This Year's Super 11 Awards

Photo illustration courtesy of FWAA

The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) released its 15th Super 11 Awards. First awarded in 2009, the awards are presented annually to the best performing College Sports Communicators departments in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. This year, in addition to the department awards, the FWAA also presented a Super 11 Coach of the Year award for the sixth season. This year's recipients of the Super 11 spotlight some great programs.

This season, the FWAA and the awards recognized two first-time winners in addition to the nine that had won the award previously. Led by Clemson, who earned the honor for a record 11th time, are led by Ross Taylor, Assistant Athletic Director for Football Communications. Joining Clemson, are Nebraska, who earned their 10th award, led by their Associate Athletic Director for Communications, Keith Mann. Navy, led by Scott Strasemeier (seventh), Kansas State, led by Ryan Lackey, and Pitt, led by E.J. Borghetti each won their sixth award. Kentucky, led by Susan Lax, and Oklahoma led by Mike Houck won their third award. BYU led by Brett Pyne and Cal, led by Kyle McRae won the award for the second time. First-time winners this season are Illinois led by Brett Moore and LSU, led by Michael Bonnette.

© Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

This year winners were determined to have had excellent accessibility during the week of their games and after the game with players, coaches and coordinators/assistant coaches. Members of the FWAA provided input during the season judging press boxes on how well they were run and maintained in terms of neutrality, pool reporters, noise level and accessibility to the press box that could affect media from doing their job.

"I want to thank these departments for fostering a welcoming environment and providing terrific access, allowing us to tell the stories that are informative and insightful," said Andrea Adelson of ESPN and 2024 FWAA President. "Rather than limit our access, they understand providing more than just a fleeting glimpse into their programs is a service not only to their players and coaches but to their respective fan bases as well."

For this year's Coach of the Year winner, Florida State coach Mike Norvell is entering his fifth season in Tallahassee and has granted outstanding access to his program over the years. He earns the honor after leading the Seminoles to an undefeated regular season and Atlantic Coast Conference title. He is the sixth winner of the award and joins previous winners Herm Edwards (Arizona State), Chris Klieman (Kansas State), Tom Allen (Indiana), Jeff Hafley (Boston College) and Sonny Dykes (TCU) as winners of the honor.

The FWAA, founded in 1941, consists of journalists, broadcasters, publicists, photographers, and key executives in all areas of college football. The FWAA works to govern media access and game day operations while presenting awards and honors including an annual FWAA All-America Team.

From everyone here at collegefootballdawgs.com we say congratulations to the schools who were recognized for their continued service to help their school's programs.