The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) has rolled out the winners of its Super 11 Awards for the 2025 season. Every year, these honors go out to the best College Sports Communicators (CSC) departments in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.
This time around, there’s a mix of old favorites and a fresh face in the lineup. The recognition really spotlights the hard work these teams put in to help the media and keep things running smoothly behind the scenes.
2025 Super 11 Award Winners
The Super 11 Awards, now in their 17th year, highlight the CSC departments that go above and beyond for media access and game-day operations. Clemson is at the top again, picking up its 13th award—pretty wild, honestly.
Ross Taylor heads up their football communications as Assistant Athletic Director. Nebraska isn’t far behind, nabbing its 12th award, with Keith Mann leading the charge as Associate Athletic Director for Communications.
Other Notable Winners
Plenty of other schools got some love for their communication teams:
- Navy (Scott Strasemeier) – 9th award
- Iowa (Matt Weitzel) – 4th award
- South Carolina (Steve Fink) – 4th award
- Tennessee (Bill Martin) – 4th award
- West Virginia (Mike Montoro) – 4th award
- Texas Tech (Matt Dowdy) – 3rd award
- Ohio State (Jerry Emig) – 2nd award
- San José State (Sky Kerstein) – 2nd award
Kansas, with Andrew Eisch at the helm, just grabbed its very first Super 11 Award. That’s a pretty big deal for them.
Criteria for the Super 11 Awards
The Super 11 selection process is no joke—they look at a bunch of factors.
Accessibility
Programs are judged on how accessible they are during game weeks and after games. That means making players, coaches, and assistants available for interviews and media stuff.
Press Box Operations
FWAA members take a good look at how press boxes are run. They’re checking for:
- Neutrality
- Pool reporters
- Noise level
- Accessibility
Without these basics, it’s tough for media folks to do their jobs.
Special Recognition
This year, Jerry Emig of Ohio State got a special nod as he heads into retirement. He’s been a big name in the business and a steady partner for the FWAA.
His impact? Pretty hard to overstate. He’s leaving behind some big shoes to fill.
Super 11 Coach of the Year
There’s also a Super 11 Coach of the Year Award. For 2025, SMU’s Rhett Lashlee takes it home, making him the eighth head coach to get the honor.
Lashlee really stood out for being open and easy to work with. The Mustangs had a great season, finishing it off with a Holiday Bowl win. One ACC beat writer even called him “a dream to deal with”—can’t really argue with that.
Previous Winners
Since 2009, the Super 11 Awards have gone out to 83 different FBS programs. Here’s a quick look at some past winners:
2009
- Buffalo
- Clemson
- East Carolina
- Georgia
- Nebraska
- Pitt
- Rutgers
- San José State
- Texas
- USC
- Utah
2010
- Clemson
- Colorado
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Navy
- Northwestern
- Rutgers
- Troy
- Tulsa
- USC
- Utah
If you want to dig deeper, here’s the full list on the official FWAA Super 11 Award winners page.
Conclusion
The 2025 Super 11 Awards shine a light on the commitment and grit of the top College Sports Communicators departments in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. These folks really keep things moving behind the scenes, making sure media can do their job and that press operations run smoothly.
Big congrats to all the winners. And honestly, hats off to Rhett Lashlee—his approach to media relations as head coach stands out.
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