DALLAS (FWAA) – The college football story of the year in 2021 broke in July during Southeastern Conference Media Days, but the story had nothing to do with the schools currently in the league. It had everything to do with two Big 12 Conference schools – Texas and Oklahoma – headed to the SEC in the future.
It has been a bombshell story that has sent tremors through the college sports landscape and has even changed future conference affiliations outside the SEC in recent months. An earthquake basically. And the reporter who broke that story, the Houston Chronicle's Brent Zwerneman, was an easy choice for the FWAA's Steve Ellis Beat Writer of the Year Award.
The FWAA has named a Beat Writer of the Year since the 2011 season in honor of Ellis, long-time Tallahassee Democrat writer who passed away in 2009. Democrat sports editor Jim Henry once wrote of Ellis: "Nobody covered Florida State athletics with the passion and ferocity that Ellis did for 30 years."
Previous winners of the FWAA's Beat Writer Award: Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (2011); Mark Blaudschun of the Boston Globe and Steve Wieberg of USA Today (2012); Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News (2013); Tim May of the Columbus Dispatch (2014); Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times (2015); Jason Kersey of The Oklahoman (2016); Mike Griffith of SEC Country (2017); Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com and Chris Vannini of The Athletic (2018); Brett McMurphy of Stadium Network (2019); Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated (2020); and Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (2021).
As for Zwerneman, Reid Laymance, the veteran sports editor of the Chronicle, remembers the timing on that improbable July day more than a year ago. Brent called and told him he had a big story, touching it off.
"I assumed he'd found out something on Jimbo Fisher's plans at quarterback," Laymance recently recalled. "Instead, it was the story that no one in college football expected-or that anyone wanted reported that day. Texas and Oklahoma were heading to the SEC. We put Brent through about 30 minutes of editor-induced angst as we alerted the powers that be of the big story that no one seemed to believe at the time.
"The story, of course, was accurate, which should come as no surprise given Brent's deep sourcing built through years of his beat reporting on Texas A&M and beyond on college football (and basketball and baseball). Kevin Sumlin being fired? Brent had that first. Jimbo Fisher being hired? Brent had that first. too. Billy Kennedy out and Buzz Williams in? Yes, Brent had that.
"That Brent consistently gets the big stories is a testament to his friendly demeanor that builds trust. And when he writes stories that perhaps the A&M administration or fan base may not like, they can't complain too much because it's always an accurate presentation of what's happening in College Station."
Zwerneman has covered Texas A&M in all but two years since 1995 and every year since 2001 with different outlets, the Houston Chronicle solely since 2014. He is on his fifth Texas A&M head football coach (who was not an interim), starting with R.C. Slocum, then Dennis Franchione, through Mike Sherman, Kevin Sumlin and now Fisher.
He was there in 1998 at the Big 12 title game at St. Louis' Trans World Dome when Texas A&M defeated Kansas State, 36-33, in double overtime. Unbeaten Kansas State, a 17.5-point favorite, appeared to be headed to the national championship game. But the Aggies' Sirr Parker hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass to lift the Aggies to the victory.
"I jumped out of the way of a diving Sirr Parker, and seconds later avoided offensive lineman Semisi Heimuli's flying helmet, fired in the air in celebration," Zwerneman said. "What a moment to describe in tight detail, and I was suddenly far removed from my first job out of Sam Houston State four years prior: writing obituaries for the Bryan-College Station Eagle."
After a successful high school basketball career at Oak Ridge High School north of Houston, Zwerneman decided to go back to the sport he loved as a young kid: baseball. Zwerneman made the Sam Houston State baseball team as a "scrub reliever," after not even lettering in high school. He was sidelined from throwing a baseball entering high school by heart surgery, after a major heart defect was discovered through an athletics physical.
As a Sam Houston pitcher he beat Grand Canyon and lost to Baylor and Houston, but admits being "mainly just in awe I was getting to pitch against the mighty Southwest Conference schools I'd grown up watching to begin with."
His college baseball coach wrote him a recommendation, which helped him get the job at the Bryan-College Station Eagle. He eventually moved into the sports department to cover the Aggies. He says his mentor over the years was Larry Bowen, a veteran sportswriter for the paper who also covered the Aggies.
"I was in awe of Larry and his ability to mix professionalism and humor in a job requiring loads of both," Zwerneman said. "Larry, who played the role of big brother from the start, taught me how to conduct myself in interviews and in the press box and on road trips and to always properly attribute other hard workers in the business, and also that it was possible to be a good family man and a good beat writer at the same time. Love that man to this day."
He lists linebacker Dat Nguyen as his favorite player to cover in what was his first year on the A&M beat in 1995. That was Nguyen's first year of playing for the Aggies after a redshirt year. Zwerneman's favorite story was for his employer at the time in 2007, the San Antonio Express-News.
"The Texas and Oklahoma move to the SEC was eventually going to come out, of course," Zwerneman said. "But a story that might still be a secret had it not been for an irate A&M booster is the one I am most proud of breaking because of its uniqueness."
Dennis Franchione, the Aggies' coach, was selling information, injuries among that, to a handful of boosters in the secret "VIP Connection" Newsletter.
When Zwerneman, who had gotten ahold of the letter, finally got to talk to Francione before the story went to press, the Aggies' head coach pleaded with him not to write the story. Zwerneman said Francione asked, "Do you really think this a big deal?" I responded, "We're about to find out."
Fourteen years later in July 2021 came Zwerneman's bombshell story that can define a career.
He basically was doing an anniversary story on Texas A&M President Bowen Loftin declaring the Big 12 in a "state of uncertainty" in 2011. A year later in 2012, A&M was gone to the SEC. And you know the rest of the story.
In preparation for the "anniversary story" Zwerneman began reaching out to old contacts "across conferences and across rivers that divide states." He wrote the 10-year anniversary story of Loftin's statement that was the beginning of the end of the Aggies' Big 12 Conference affiliation.
At the same time, one of those longtime sources spanning back many years told him about the Texas and Oklahoma departure plans to the SEC.
Until that point, the move was totally underground. It was 10 years to the day from Loftin's prediction of doom in the Big 12 that the revelations of OU-Texas' startling move became public thanks to Zwerneman.
"Lo and behold I happened to be at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama and getting reaction from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey simply meant finding him on radio row instead of making desperate phone calls that likely would not get returned," Zwerneman said of the day he was made aware of their intentions . "Sankey's eyes widened and his eyebrows arched when I asked him about Texas and Oklahoma, and the story was on."
Zwerneman has this advice to young journalists: "Develop sources, make sure they know they can trust you and stay in touch over the years. Not too much, but enough. Oh, and remember otherwise nondescript dates in sports history and pen those anniversary stories. They sometimes pay off."
Laymance says Zwerneman is someone he points to on the Chronicle staff.
"We often use Brent as an example to some of our younger (and at times older) reporters on how his comfort level and expertise beyond the press box pays off when he's finding police reports and court records to document the latest malfeasance by an A&M player or his ability to jump in and help our news team when stories break in College Station. And, of course, when we need a hand on other subjects, Brent is quick to drive to Houston to jump in the baseball playoffs or track down the small-town roots of Chris Anderson, the Bird Man of the NBA playoffs one year."
Zwerneman juggles his reporting for the Chronicle with coaching his sons Will and Brady in Little League and following his daughter Zoe's artistic endeavors along with his wife Crystal.
"I had to laugh recently at a vision – that might not have been too far off from reality – of a recent Brent trip," Laymance revealed. "He was driving with his sons (neither are close to driving age) for a family trip to Florida. A news story broke. Brent called and said he'd file from the road ASAP. I was a bit concerned he might turn the wheel over to the eldest while typing in the passenger seat. Instead, he safely pulled over and filed."
Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of journalists, broadcasters, publicists, photographers and key executives in all areas of college football. The FWAA works to govern media access and gameday operations while presenting awards and honors, including an annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its programs and initiatives, contact Executive Director Steve Richardson at 214-870-6516 or tiger@fwaa.com.