Category Archives: News

FWAA and NFF partner for fourth year on Super 16 Poll

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Several of the most respected voices in college football will rank the top teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision weekly during the 2017 season.

 IRVING, Texas (Aug. 15, 2017) – The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will partner for the fourth consecutive year to conduct The FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll, the organizations’ weekly  major-college football poll.

The results will be released by 11:30 a.m. ET each Sunday of the 2017 regular season, and the plans include a preseason poll on Aug. 22. The first poll of the regular season will be released on Tuesday, Sept. 5, to account for the games that will be played on Labor Day. The final poll will be released Dec. 3, the day after the conference championship games.

“We are proud to continue our partnership with the FWAA on the Super 16 Poll,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “We received lots of positive feedback during the past three seasons from fans on how much they enjoyed the poll. We believe that our voters offer an extremely credible set of opinions, and we hope that the combined respect of both our organizations will continue to provide a compelling reference point for fans to follow during the season.”

The voters in the poll consist of FWAA writers and College Football Hall of Famers. The poll aims to draw on the vast knowledge of the nation’s top journalists with extensive experience covering college football in combination with some of the greatest legends to have ever played or coached the game.

“We are extremely excited to continue the Super 16 Poll and partner with the National Football Foundation,” said 2017 FWAA President David Jones, a voter in the poll. “We have had a great experience with the poll, and we look forward to extending it for another year. Our poll includes some of the most knowledgeable and objective college football minds in the country, and we believe it has developed into a compelling instrument for ranking the best teams in the country.”

The decision to conduct the poll was made by the boards of both organizations at the conclusion of the 2013 season and the end of the Bowl Championship Series, building on a relationship that stretches back to the 1940s when both groups were founded. The 2017 poll will tally the votes of 46 individuals (36 from the FWAA and 10 Hall of Famers) on a weekly basis, ranking the top 16 teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Click here for an archive of previous year’s rankings.

The names and affiliations of the 2017 voters are listed below, and their individual rankings will again be made public each week during the season. The FWAA voters, all current or past writers of national stature, are selected to ensure balanced-geographical representation. The NFF voters, comprised of Hall of Fame players and coaches, also add to the diversity of perspectives, coming from different conferences and regions of the country.

2017 FWAA-NFF Super 16 Voters

Mark Anderson Las Vegas Review-Journal
Kevin Armstrong New York Daily News
Nicole Auerbach The All-American
Lee Barfknecht Omaha World-Herald
Zach Barnett FootballScoop.com
Tony Barnhart GridironNow.com
Mark Blaudschun TMG Sports
Chip Brown Scout.com/Horns Digest
Jon Finkel Beckett Media
Bryan Fischer Freelance
Pete Fiutak CollegeFootballNews.com/Campus Insiders
Matt Fortuna The All-American
Tommie Frazier 2013 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Nebraska
Teddy Greenstein Chicago Tribune
Andrew Greif The Oregonian
Mike Griffith AJC – SEC Country
Wally Hall Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Dan Harralson Saturday Down South
Tommy Hicks Freelance
Ron Higgins NoLa.com/The Times Picayune
Johnnie Johnson 2007 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Texas
Dave Jones PA Media Group
Cody Kellner Cody Kellner Points Index
Blair Kerkhoff Kansas City Star
Rachel Lenzi Land of 10
Stefanie Loh Seattle Times
Kelly Lyell Fort Collins Coloradoan
Kevin McGuire NBC Sports College Football Talk
Don McPherson 2008 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Syracuse
Chet Moeller 2010 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Navy
Matt Murschel Orlando Sentinel
Michael Payton 2015 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Marshall
Randy Peterson Des Moines Register
Bill Royce 2016 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Ashland (Ohio)
Barrett Sallee CBSSports.com
Pete Scantlebury Cox Media Group
Dan Sileo Mighty 1090 Radio
R.C. Slocum 2012 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Texas A&M coach
Phil Steele Phil Steele Publications
Patrick Stevens D1scourse.com
David Teel Newport News Daily Press
John Wagner Toledo Blade
Wesley Walls 2014 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Ole Miss
Dick Weiss Blue Star Media
Reggie Williams 2007 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Dartmouth
Scott Woerner 2016 College Football Hall of Fame Class – Georgia

2017 FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll Release Schedule

Aug. 22           Preseason Rankings

Sept. 5             Week 1 Rankings

Sept. 10           Week 2 Rankings

Sept. 17           Week 3 Rankings

Sept. 24           Week 4 Rankings

Oct. 1              Week 5 Rankings

Oct. 8             Week 6 Rankings

Oct. 15            Week 7 Rankings

Oct. 22            Week 8 Rankings

Oct. 29            Week 9 Rankings

Nov. 5             Week 10 Rankings

Nov. 12           Week 11 Rankings

Nov. 19           Week 12 Rankings

Nov. 26           Week 13 Rankings

Dec. 3              Final Rankings

Navy bucks the wave of restrictions on media coverage at other football programs 1

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Editor’s note: Navy’s Sports Information Department was named one of the FWAA’s Super 11 winners for the 2016 season earlier this year. The award is designed to reward the sports information departments and programs that exemplify excellent media relations.

You don’t have to be paranoid to win at college football. Just look at Navy.

By Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post

This summer — like most recent summers — has birthed new restrictions in the coverage of our most secretive communal pastime: college football. There’s LSU, which announced it would close all preseason practices to members of the media. And Notre Dame, which announced new rules on what sort of practice details could be revealed, and when, and at what length. And Texas, which announced a ban on the contemporaneous posting of quotes on social media, although that was later described as a preference.

In that context, an unlikely breeze of openness continues to waft from Annapolis. Breathe it in and grin. The Naval Academy — the rare college football program whose players might one day guard actual state secrets — doesn’t approach the sport as if it’s a fully classified endeavor. It doesn’t traffic in paranoia. And somehow, despite keeping its front door cracked open, Navy manages to win.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of Steinberg’s story.

A Special Message Regarding Safety Concerns for Media Parking

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From CFP, FWAA, CoSIDA and USBWA

On behalf of the FWAA, CFP, CoSIDA and the USBWA, we are writing to make you aware of growing concerns related to media parking locations for football and basketball events and how their placements pose potential safety risks for credentialed media representatives in a working capacity and having to exit facilities during late night hours.

While distance and darkness can pose safety problems for anyone, this is of particular concern for the growing number of female reporters who are departing football press boxes or basketball arenas in late night hours.

Several examples around the country this year have been registered where female reporters have felt unsafe or threatened due to the combination of darkness and distance while returning to cars that are parked in deserted lots.

And, without question, there is a growing proliferation of prime-time games for television that have driven the ending of games and post-game writing duties into the wee hours of the morning.

As a result, we encourage you to review your parking locations and policies as it relates to media lot assignments.   We recognize that the demands for priority parking are difficult for schools and we are not suggesting wholesale changes.   But, we are providing you with suggested plans that will emphasize safety and potentially help avoid putting people in a working capacity – both writers and press box staff/volunteers – who are attending events you host in perceived dangerous situations.

Recommended Media Parking Guidelines

  • For distances longer than one-quarter of a mile, a golf-cart shuttle could be made available 2-3 hours before the game to help reporters move from the media lot to the sports venue. The pre-game shuttle would help address concerns for individuals where age, health, gender and the amount of equipment create concerns while moving from media lots that don’t offer easy access.
  • A golf cart and/or walking escort or campus security representative could be made available after games upon request to ensure media representatives covering a late night event have coverage while returning to the media lot and their car.
  • Provide a text service for reporters needing help either in going to the stadium or returning to the media lot. (The College Football Playoff is in the process of developing this approach along with Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, for the national championship game).
  • Media should be provided a detailed description of the location and distance from venue of all parking areas, along with shuttle availability before or after the game, in advance as part of the credential process.  This information should also be available on game day in the press box and other appropriate areas.

Thanks for your attention and consideration to this concern!

Steve Richardson (FWAA) * Gina Lehe (CFP) * Doug Vance (CoSIDA) * Joe Mitch (USBWA)

LA Tech Media Room Named in Honor of Buddy Davis

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Long-time FWAA member Buddy Davis was the recipient of the FWAA’s Lifetime Achivement Award in 2016.  

RUSTON, La. – For more than five decades, Orville Kince “Buddy” Davis has written more words about Lincoln Parish’s athletic stars and even everyday little leaguers than one can count.

Yet, late Wednesday afternoon, Louisiana Tech officials left the Louisiana Tech Athletics and Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame scribe at a loss for words.

Louisiana Tech President Les Guice, Athletics Director Tommy McClelland and a handful of other Tech athletic administrators joined the likes of Leon Barmore, Steve Davison, Jim Oakes, Teddy Allen and a number of Buddy’s Ruston Daily Leader family in the “Jack Lambert Suite” – Room 58 – at Princeton Place.

It was the least the group could do for the birthday boy. Buddy turned 71 on Wednesday.

Just hours after conducting a tour for the local media of the new press box and suites at Joe Aillet Stadium – a tour Buddy wasn’t able to attend due to doctor’s orders – McClelland stood at his bedside, showing the 50-year veteran of the pen the renderings of the $18-plus million facility.

After flipping through pages that covered the new concourse, the camera deck and the luxury suites, McClelland finally got to the level that a man of Buddy’s profession was interested in seeing. Level 3, the press area. The home for the Buddy Davis’s of the media world during LA Tech football games.

As Buddy’s eyes lit up looking at the renderings, they soon filled with tears.

“Buddy, the real reason we are here is to tell you something,” said McClelland. “There are a lot of people at Louisiana Tech and in Lincoln Parish who love you and who have benefited from your writing for so many years. You have done so much for Louisiana Tech University, more than you will ever know.

“In honor of that and of who you are, we are naming the large working press area of the new facility the Buddy Davis Media Room. We feel this is only fitting for a man who has done so much for this area for the past five decades.”

A man who mastered the written word even before the old press box was constructed in 1968 was at a loss for any. As tears rolled down his face, he just starred at the renderings of the graphics depicting his five decades of covering Louisiana Tech and all of Lincoln Parish.

“Buddy, these graphics will tell your story,” McClelland said. “They tell the story of all the incredible Louisiana Tech athletes and coaches you have written about and so many other Lincoln Parish greats. As you have told the story of so many others over the years, this will tell your story.”

The rooms large rear wall measuring 12 feet tall by 40 feet wide contains five panels – each one representing a decade in documenting Buddy’s career – and both large and small photos of Louisiana Tech and Lincoln Parish greats that he has covered.

Buddy began working at the Ruston Daily Leader as a student at Ruston High School and kept doing so while a student at Louisiana Tech before becoming Sports Editor for the Leader. Nearly 50 years’ worth of covering Tech athletes has not only produced countless awards but has also helped Buddy forge many friendships.

A few of those friends represented the masses in the Jack Lambert Suite.

“It’s so humbling,” said Buddy after most of the emotions had finally faded away. “All I’ve done is what I love to do … and to be honored in this way. I’m speechless. I’m a writer, but there are no words. It’s overwhelming. I am so appreciative and cannot thank everyone at Louisiana Tech enough for this gesture.”

Overwhelming yet fitting for a man who garnered numerous awards during his career, including enshrinement in the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.

A few of Buddy’s other honors include the Distinguished Service Award from the Louisiana Sports Writers Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Football Writers Association of America, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and the Louisiana Tech College of Liberal Arts Alumnus of the Year.

“I am not sure we can give this man his due,” said Barmore. “It does me so much good to see someone local, grow up and accomplish what he has done in his hometown. I wouldn’t be in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame without Buddy Davis. A lot of use wouldn’t have achieved all that we have achieved without Buddy. What an incredible career. I love the guy and deeply appreciate what he has done for me and Louisiana Tech. He is a treasure that we all should appreciate.”

Buddy is one of just a handful of people still working who sat in the original Joe Aillet Stadium press box when it opened in 1968. Now the Lincoln Parish legend will be forever honored along the back wall of the new one when it officially opens Sept. 2 when the Bulldogs host Northwestern State.

“I really didn’t see this coming … it’s unbelievable,” said Buddy.

Hatchell to enter CU Athletic Hall of Fame

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Longtime FWAA member Steve Hatchell, the President and CEO of the National Football Foundation, will be inducted into the 2017 CU Athletic Hall of Fame in November.

 

The following is the media release from CU.

 

Steve Hatchell, president and CEO of the National Football Foundation. Photo by Melissa Macatee.

BOULDER — The 13th class that will be inducted into the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame this November 10 will feature 10 Golden Buffalo legends who are representative of eight sports in the school’s history, all of whom left indeliblemarks in their CU athletic careers.

The ten, two of whom will be honored posthumously, represent those eight different sports over a period that spans from the early 1940s to early last decade, covering seven different decades in all. Included in the group are a pair of football teammates from the ‘70s; two of CU’s standout female performers basketball and volleyball in the early 1990s; the school’s first

star skier; one of CU’s first high‐profile national recruits in men’s basketball; a national cross country individual champion; a longtime coach and state golfing legend; a member of three conference champion football teams who had an outstanding and lengthy career in the pros; and a man who rose from manager of the football team to several full‐time positions in the athletic  department before really making his mark nationally as one of the top administrators in college sports.

The 2017 class will be the 13th inducted into the Hall since it was conceived in 1998, and the 10 will join 91 individuals (and the 1959 ski team as a unit) who have been enshrined to date (12 have been honored previously after their deaths). Athletic director Rick George personally notified all eight living members of the upcoming class of their impending induction, as well as the next of kin for two deceased inductees, CU’s first three‐time All‐American in any sport, skier Frank  Brown, and longtime golf coach after lettering in the sport himself in Les Fowler.

The group will officially be inducted in the Hall of Fame on Friday, Nov. 10, in a luncheon ceremony at the CU Champions Center; will be featured in the Pearl Street Stampede parade that night; and then will be introduced at halftime of the CU‐ Southern California football game on Saturday, Nov. 11, to complete the weekend.

Those to be inducted:

  • Stan Brock, Football (1976-79)
  • Chad Brown, Football (1989-92)
  • Frank Brown, Skiing (1957-59)
  • Karrie Downey, Volleyball (1991-94)
  • Les Fowler, Golf & Golf Coach (1946-76)
  • Steve Hatchell, Football/Administration (1966-75)
  • Mark Haynes, Football (1976-79)
  • Jay Humphries, Basketball (1980-84)
  • Jamillah Lang, Women’s Basketball (1990-94)
  • Jorge Torres, Cross Country & Track (1999-2003)

All three football players were high selections in the National Football League Draft, as Haynes and Brock were first  round picks in 1980 (eighth and 12th overall, respectively), while Brown was a second‐rounder and 44th overall in the ’93 draft.

Humphries, along with Inglewood (Calif.) High School teammate Vince Kelley, were perhaps the first two high profile national recruits in men’s basketball, while Lang herself was a big‐time signee out of Washington High in Kansas City, Kan.

Downey was one of the early stars on CU’s fledgling volleyball team, joining the squad in its sixth year of existence and played a major role in the program taking a major step forward. Torres, on the other hand, was a key in helping the Buffs go from perennial conference champion to winning CU’s first men’s national cross country championship in 2001.

Hatchell started as a football team manager doing what they do – laundry, sizing equipment, fixing helmets –  to being an  assistant to the athletic director, the late Eddie Crowder, and being the right‐hand man to ski coach Bill Marolt at the front end of CU’s eight straight NCAA ski titles. After a short stint as co‐sports information director, he moved on to several high profile collegiate positions with the Big 8, Metro and Southwest conferences, with a run as the Orange Bowl’s executive director sprinkled in‐between, to where he is now, the top man with the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame.

Frank Brown was an All‐American in both alpine and Nordic events three straight years, while Fowler starred as a golfer in the late 1940s and took over coaching the team in 1948 through his retirement midway during the 1976‐77 athletic year.

All inductees were nominated by their peers in the Alumni C‐Club or by members of the selection committee; 27  semifinalists emerged from over 60 names originally submitted over the last three years. There are now 101 members (plus the ’59 ski team, CU’s first national champions) in the CU Athletic HOF since its inception in 1998. An athlete must be at least 10 years removed from his or her CU career and retired from professional sports (teams) to be considered for induction.

With an induction every year instead of on a biennial basis as was the case for the first 16 years of the Hall, CU has been able to get more of those who are deserving of the recognition honored in a shorter time span with larger induction classes over the last four years.

 

FWAA member Donald Hunt to be inducted into Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame

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Donald Hunt, a long-time FWAA member and writer for the Philadelphia Tribune, will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday, Nov. 2. The class of 2017 was announced at a ceremony on Thursday.

His son, also named Donald, was named the Volney Meece Scholarship winner in 2010.

CLICK HERE to read the entire story on Hunt’s selection for the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

Duffy Daugherty’s 1967 call for playoff was way ahead of its time

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Executive Director’s note: In 1966 Notre Dame and Michigan State played to a 10-10 tie, setting off a controversy over which team should be No. 1. The game is still talked about until this day more than 50 years later.  Both teams finished the season unbeaten with a tie against each other. Notre Dame wound up No. 1 in three of the major polls, including in the voting for the FWAA’s Grantland Rice Trophy . But the National Football Foundation awarded the MacArthur Bowl to both teams.

The following September Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty wrote a column for the Family Weekly suggesting a Football Playoff. It took college football until the 2014 season to stage a four-team format at the top level of the sport. The Spartans’ coach was way ahead of his time when he talked about the process in the attached column.

FWAA names ‘Super 11’ sports information departments of 2016 season

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DALLAS — Five previous winners and six first-time winners comprise the Eighth Annual Super 11 Awards, which the FWAA gives out annually to the best performing sports information departments in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The awards announced this week are for the 2016 season.

USC claimed its seventh Super 11 award and third straight. Nebraska won for the fifth time overall and fourth time in five seasons. Clemson and Colorado each won for a fourth time. It was Clemson’s second straight award and Colorado’s third award in four seasons.

Navy was the other past winner, having claimed a spot back in 2010, the second year the Super 11 was named.

The first-time winners are Air Force, Arkansas State, Miami (Ohio), Oklahoma State, Tennessee and UTEP in the awards selection that dates back to the 2009 season.

“Our organization believes this award is one of the most important tasks that we do each year,” said Tim Griffin of Cox Communications, the FWAA’s 2010 president and the head of the Super 11 committee.

“There are many outstanding SID staffs across the country. But these 11 departments we are honoring are consistently exemplary beyond expectations. We hope these awards help to showcase them.”

Criteria employed in determining the winners not only included how press boxes and media operations were operated, but also the quality and timeliness of information provided. Also judged was the amount of information presented and appropriately updated on websites, and personal responsiveness to media inquiries as well as the accessibility of a program’s players, coaches and assistant coaches. The ratings considered those departments that went the extra mile in servicing the media.

The Super 11 Committee received input from other FWAA members and others who covered college football during the 2016 season.

“The FWAA takes very serious the importance of good sports information departments and what they can mean to coverage of college Football,” said PA Media Group’s David Jones, 2017 FWAA President. “They can greatly aid in that coverage. And we want to salute those departments. Obviously, there are other top sports information departments. But these are ones the committee believed were in the top category during the 2016 season.”

In January 2009, the FWAA formed the first Super 11 Committee. The concept has been supported and endorsed by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), many of whom are members of the FWAA.

The FWAA, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,300 men and women across North America who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards (Eddie Robinson, Outland and Nagurski), a national poll and its annual All-America teams that date to 1944.

For more information on the Super 11, contact committee chairman Tim Griffin (210-823-3666, timgriffin59@hotmail.com) or visit the association’s official website, footballwriters.com.