Tennessee football’s strategic communications team was recognized on Apr. 15 with the Super 11 Award for the second straight year by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). The award honors top-performing College Sports Communicators departments in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs.
The recognition highlights the importance of effective communication and accessibility between college sports programs and media representatives. Tennessee joins Clemson, Iowa, Kansas, Navy, Nebraska, Ohio State, San Jose State, South Carolina, Texas Tech and West Virginia as honorees for the 2025 season. This marks Tennessee’s fourth time receiving this distinction in the award’s 17-year history.
The Volunteers’ football strategic communications staff is led by Senior Associate Athletics Director Bill Martin and includes Associate Director Sean Barows along with Assistant Directors Forest Jersey and Shane Switzer. The group was also honored for its work during the previous season.
This year’s winners were selected based on criteria such as accessibility to players and coaches during game weeks and after games, handling interview requests from beat reporters, adherence to press box protocols, and overall decorum. FWAA members evaluated how well press boxes were managed regarding neutrality, noise levels, pool reporter access and other factors affecting journalists’ ability to perform their duties.
“We once again honor some programs who have provided great assistance to writers for many years and have demonstrated a culture of excellence in what they do in their pressbox and in terms of accessibility to players and coaches,” said FWAA Executive Director Steve Richardson. “We applaud those programs as well as the newcomer program. These are the best of the best of several communications staff we honor. There are others which are excellent and some on the cusp of making Super 11 next year perhaps. We have a number of hard-working communications staff who make our jobs easier. We appreciate that on an annual basis.”
The FWAA first introduced its Super 11 Awards in January 2009 with support from College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA), recognizing at least one awardee from among 83 different FBS programs since then. Founded in 1941, FWAA consists of journalists, broadcasters, publicists, photographers and key executives involved with college football operations.
