DALLAS (FWAA) – Two first-time winners and nine previous ones comprise the 14th Super 11 Awards, which the Football Writers Association of America presents annually to the best performing College Sports Communicators departments in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The awards announced this week are for the 2022 season.
In addition, the FWAA is presenting a Super 11 Coach of the Year Award to Sonny Dykes of TCU, who won most of the FBS national coach of the year honors, including the FWAA’s Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year and Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach awards. Dykes, who granted outstanding access to his program during the 2022 season, is the fifth head coach to win this award since its inception during the 2018 season.
As for the 2022 CSC department awards, Clemson and Colorado each collected a 10th award and Nebraska a ninth. Navy won for the sixth time, Kansas State and Pitt each a fifth time and South Carolina, UAB and West Virginia each a second time.
The first-time recipients in the 2022 Super 11 award, which dates back to the 2009 season, are BYU and TCU. Seven of the 10 FBS Conferences and one Independent are represented among the 11 winners this season.
This past year, with the pandemic a lesser concern, in-person press access to college football teams improved dramatically. But work for access still remains.
This year’s winners were deemed to have had excellent accessibility during the week of the game and after the game–with a program’s players, coaches and assistant coaches – along with the other listed criteria on Page 21 of the 2022-23 FWAA Directory.
FWAA Executive Director Steve Richardson said, “TCU Coach Sonny Dykes winning the Super 11 Coach Award is significant. It clearly shows a coach can give good access to his program and win big even in his first year at the school. Coaches don’t have to isolate their players from the media in order to play for the national championship. Clemson has shown that as well.”
FWAA members provided input during the season when press boxes were judged 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 a media person’s ability to his or her job.
In addition, Virginia has been awarded a special commendation for its media access after the tragic shooting deaths last fall on campus of three Cavalier football players and the injuries of two others.
“I believe the Virginia SID staff…