Former Miami Herald reporter Susan Miller Degnan to receive award for UM football coverage

Former Miami Herald reporter Susan Miller Degnan has been named the 14th recipient of the Football Writers Association of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing her decades of coverage.

Miller Degnan was a University of Miami Hurricanes football beat writer for the Herald. She also covered UM baseball, Super Bowls, Orange Bowls, marathons, sailing events and the Winter Olympics.

Her memories were preserved in ESPN’s 150 project in 2019, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of college football with moments from her “fascinating career” from 1995 to 2024 covering Miami football, the FWAA said in a news release.

“Seven head football coaches, thousands of athletes and decades of excitement,” Miller Degnan told the FWAA, “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.”

On Friday night, Miller Degnan will be honored for “quite a career” at an award ceremony in Miami Beach.

She told the FWAA she feels “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.”

When Miller Degnan retired from the Herald in April 2024, Herald sports writer Michelle Kaufman wept in her car when she read the note that made it official, the FWAA said.

“They say everyone’s replaceable, but that’s not always true,” Kaufman told the FWAA. “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.”

Miller Degnan told the Herald she has relaxed for the most part but occasionally un-retires. She’ll be covering the Canes for her former newspaper during Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

It’s only fitting, she said.

“The press box is my happy place,” Miller Degnan told the Herald. “I love covering football games.”