MIAMI (FWAA) – The Miami Herald's Susan Miller Degnan sat in the press box of the BCS championship game, Miami, Fla. vs. Ohio State at the Fiesta Bowl, on Jan.3, 2003, on the precipice of the Hurricanes winning their second straight national championship. The Canes were riding a 34-game winning streak, a fact that was not lost on the Herald beat writer who had covered every one of those games.
"What I remember about UM's 34-game winning streak was that I feared I wouldn't remember how to write a losing gamer! Haha!," said Miller Degnan, the FWAA's 2025 Bob Holt Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. "Double overtime, UM ultimately lost 31-24 in a game it seemingly won (in the first overtime). Celebratory fireworks erupted and the Hurricanes sent their helmets soaring into the Arizona sky."
But a pass interference call on the Hurricanes in the endzone gave Ohio State another chance to tie the score and send it into a second overtime where the Buckeyes eventually won.
"Yes, I was right to fear that first losing story in more than two years," Miller Degnan said. "While my renowned colleague Edwin Pope closed his computer and refused to write (he was quickly convinced otherwise), I panicked, along with everyone else in the press box. To this day, I've never heard so many press-box F-bombs in unison."
Miller Degnan's memories were preserved in ESPN's 150 project, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of college football in 2019 with one of her most memorable moments in a fascinating career covering Miami football from 1995-2024.
"Seven head football coaches, thousands of athletes and decades of excitement," she recalled, "from locker room access to NCAA investigations and sanctions. Arrests and accolades Comedy and tragedy. Love and hate. Deaths and births. Murders. And breaking news galore. I loved the exhilaration, even if it seared my nerves."
Quite a career.
The reward? She has been named the 14th recipient of its FWAA Lifetime Achievement Award and will be honored at a private dinner in the Miami area on Friday night hosted by the National Football Foundation and presented by the More Family.
The previous winners are Art Spander, San Francisco Examiner (2013); Bill Little, University of Texas (2014); Irv Moss, Denver Post (2015); Buddy Davis, Ruston Daily Leader (2016); Mike Finn, ACC (2017); Dave Plati, University of Colorado (2018); Paul Hoolahan, Sugar Bowl, and Wright Waters, Football Bowl Association (2019); Sid Hartman, Minneapolis Star-Tribune (2020); Shelly Poe, Auburn University (2021); Donald Hunt, Philadelphia Tribune (2022); Randy Peterson, Des Moines Register (2023); and David Jones, PennLive.com (2024).
"I always wanted to be a writer, and I always played and loved sports," said Miller Degnan, the high school softball player/collegiate squash player at George Washington University. "Putting the two together was a perfect fit for me, I wrote for my high school and college papers, and worked my way up from my first paid journalism job at an outstanding weekly to a community daily to the Miami Herald."
Her reaction to receiving the FWAA's Lifetime Achievement Award: "Immense pride, excitement and deep appreciation that I, as one of the pioneer females in sports journalism, could serve as a reminder that women – once rare in our field – have made significant contributions."
"Susan's great attention to detail and searching out the story of the day appropriately make her the first winner of the Bob Holt /FWAA Lifetime Achievement Award, so named last spring a few months after his passing," said FWAA Executive Director Steve Richardson. "The FWAA has presented this award since 2013, but this is the first year for Bob to be its namesake. Bob devoted his life to journalism and getting the story – right. If he were still with us, he could certainly appreciate Susan's tenacity and how she worked the beat and always had one more question. Bob also was usually the last to leave a press conference all the way to the end."
Said the Miami Herald's Linda Roberston, former sports writer, sports columnist and current investigative reporter for the paper: "No one appreciates how hard sports writers work with incredible versatility and resourcefulness, often under excruciating deadlines, and Susan worked harder. Because she cared. She cared about the people she wrote about, South Florida, the Herald, her colleagues and peers. She cared about excellent journalism. She cared about getting it right and fair. She cared about every interview, every sentence.
"She endured demoralizing nastiness from fans, especially as a female sports writer, and adapted to huge changes in the sports landscape, including decreasing accessibility for journalists. She covered boon times and scandals with scoops, flair and insight. She gave readers something beyond typical sports writing."
"No matter what era you're from or how many you've lived through covering sports is all about people and their life experiences, more than the games themselves," Miller Degnan said. "Birth, death, love, hate, accomplishments, obstacles and breakthroughs are part of everyone's experiences. I tried to build relationships with athletes and their families and the people who surrounded the program. Kindness is key.
"I consider myself blessed to have worked in sports print journalism during the 1980s, '90s and the early 2000s when people still subscribed to newspapers, 'scoops' still existed (for more than 10 seconds) and women began to make their marks. Waking up to your front-page scoop was glorious and provided an incomparable rush. Of course, being beaten by one was hell."
Recalling the details from her days covering Miami, all seven head coaches, as well as the players:
- "Butch Davis was a control freak, but also friendly and talented and fun to cover. He also threatened to once shut down the post-game locker room (when it was open) because a player's mother complained she didn't want women interviewing her son in that setting. But Davis relented when Miller Degnan and another woman reporter covering the Hurricanes told him they "would write what he told us."
- "Larry Corker was gentle and kind and always respectful of the media."
- "Al Golden started out great, but the NCAA stuff and a plunging program soured him."
- "Randy Shannon began his first press conference with, 'How 'bout them Canes?' Then: 'Ladies first,' as he gazed at me to ask the initial question. Yikes!"
- "Mark Richt was caring and compassionate, a gentleman."
- "Many Diaz was intelligent and thoughtful and candid with his responses."
- Mario Cristobal: "Smart, articulate, charismatic, controlling and well-rehearsed-not exactly forthcoming or candid responding to direct questions."
From 2000-2002, Miami had a 35-2 record and lost just at Washington, 34-29, in the second game of the 2000 regular season and to Ohio State at the end of winning streak in the BCS title game against Ohio State after the 2002 season.
The 2001 national title team (12-0, coached by Corker in his first season) had 17 players drafted in the NFL's first round and 38 overall. "The most magnifcent collection of football talent I've ever seen," Miller Degnan said of Ed Reed, Andre Johnson, Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Ken Dorsey, Jeremy Shockey, Bryant McKinnie, Jonathan Vilma and Frank Gore, who were the main stars. The 2000 team, coached by Davis in his final season, with Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne and Dan Morgan, was denied a chance to play in the title game because of the road loss at Washington.
As for Miami player interviews, Miller Degnan said a majority were exceptional during the early years she covered the beat.
"Once social media exploded and programs basically shut down one-on-one interviews, instead putting who they wanted in group settings or in short Zoom sessions (carefully schooling them on what to say and not to say), the thrill evaporated."
So back from that era to now.
"I wouldn't say it's harder to cover a beat now," she said, "just harder to do it right and make it meaningful. The difficulty, I guess, is not being lazy by just doing group interviews and accepting little access and writing what everyone else does. The hard part is working to discover new information from various people and places, and telling original stories. With the newsrooms shrinking, it is tough to find the time to thoroughly cover a seemingly seven-day, 24-hour job, while doing everything else."
Miller Degnan covered the beat for years raising a family of three kids, and now she has two highly successful doctors and a lawyer to show for it. Not only was there Miami Hurricane football, she also covered Miami baseball, Super Bowls, a Winter Olympics, Orange Bowls and thr Orange Bowl Committee, big-time marathons, sailing events and regattas.
"I never could have done it without an amazing, patient, understanding husband (a lawyer)," she said. "He set up an office at home and was there when the kids got home from school or when I was traveling. He cooked all the meals. I kept up with their school work and special events. My children, in turn, have grown into hard-working adults. And they're very good, kind people."
When Miller Degnan retired in April of 2024, one of her closest friends in the business, Miami Herald sports writer Michelle Kaufman wept in her car when she read the note that made it official.
"Although I knew about this news, seeing it in black and white hit me hard," Kaufman said. "They say everyone's replaceable, but that's not always true. Nobody can replace Susan Miller Degnan. She is truly one of a kind. ... Nobody cares more about the Miami Herald. She loves this place so much and is the ultimate team player. And nobody has a bigger heart. For 40 years we've been telling her to relax. Maybe now she will."