Tennessee football’s strategic communications team was recognized on Apr. 15 with the Super 11 Award by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) for the second year in a row. The honor is given annually to top-performing College Sports Communicators departments in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.
The recognition highlights Tennessee’s consistent efforts in providing strong support and accessibility to media members covering college football. This marks the fourth time Tennessee has received this award since its inception seventeen years ago.
The Volunteers’ communications staff, led by Senior Associate Athletics Director Bill Martin, along with Associate Director Sean Barows and Assistant Directors Forest Jersey and Shane Switzer, was also honored last season. They joined programs such as Clemson, Iowa, Kansas, Navy, Nebraska, Ohio State, San Jose State, South Carolina, Texas Tech and West Virginia as honorees for the 2025 season.
This year’s winners were chosen based on their accessibility during game weeks and after games with players and coaches. Additional criteria included beat reporter access and press box protocols as listed in the FWAA Directory. FWAA members contributed input throughout the season regarding press box operations such as neutrality and noise level that could impact journalists’ ability to work effectively.
“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). Since then, at least one Super 11 Award has been given to eighty-three different FBS programs over seventeen years.
Founded in 1941, FWAA is made up of journalists, broadcasters, publicists, photographers and executives across college football who oversee media access policies while presenting awards including an annual All-America Team.
