National Football Foundation

For more than four decades, Herb Vincent has been one of college athletics' most trusted communications leaders, dedicating his career to promoting the game, telling its stories and helping navigate many of the most significant changes in college football.
 
Vincent will retire from the Southeastern Conference following the 2026 football season, concluding a 43-year career in college and professional sports. He has spent the past 13 years as the SEC's associate commissioner for communications, developing and managing the conference's communications strategies, serving as a conference spokesperson and acting as the primary liaison between the SEC office and communications staffs at its member institutions.
 
A longtime friend of the National Football Foundation, Vincent has worked closely with the NFF throughout his years at LSU and the SEC, supporting the Foundation's efforts to promote its initiatives while promoting candidates for the NFF College Football Hall of Fame and the Campbell Trophy.
 
"Herb has dedicated his entire career to supporting and promoting college football, and he has always been someone you can count on to make things happen for the good of the game," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "Whether at LSU or the SEC, Herb has been a great friend to the National Football Foundation and a tremendous resource for us over the years. He understands what makes college football special, and we are incredibly grateful for everything he has done for the game."
 
An LSU journalism graduate, Vincent got his start in athletics communications as a student working in the Tigers' sports information office. After graduating, he spent two seasons working in the public relations offices for the USFL's New Orleans Breakers and Los Angeles Express and one year as Assistant Sports Information Director and Director of Publications at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He then joined the SEC staff as Assistant Director of Public Relations, remaining there until 1988, when he returned to LSU.
 
He spent the next 12 years at his alma mater, serving in increasingly prominent communications roles until 2000, when he became Vice President for Communications for the College Sports Southeast regional cable network in Birmingham. He rejoined the LSU staff in 2002, eventually overseeing communications and serving as the university's primary public relations officer before rising to Associate Vice Chancellor for University Relations. He then returned to the SEC in 2013 for a second stint at the conference headquarters, beginning what would become a 13-year capstone to his distinguished career.
 
A past president of College Sports Communicators, Vincent received the organization's Arch Ward Award in 2019 and has been inducted into its Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction and LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Hall of Fame. In 2025, he received the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
 
A native of North Little Rock, Arkansas, Vincent earned his journalism degree from LSU in 1983 and authored "The LSU Football Vault," chronicling the history of Tigers football, in 2008.