Current Coaches, ADs Seem Unlikely For College Football Playoff Committee

BCS executive director Bill Hancock is working with conference commissioners to determine who will choose college football’s final four. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Information trickled in Wednesday about who will not be eligible to pick the contestants in the College Football Playoff. Who, exactly, will hold that distinction has not started coming into focus.

Today news broke that current coaches and the conference commissioners who put together the Playoff will not have a role in selecting college football’s final four. Media members will also not be considered for the selection committee.

Current athletic directors might have a role in the process, though that certainly is far from settled. Florida AD Jeremy Fowler told ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy that he had heard current ADs will not be a part of determining the last four standing.

So what do we know? Well, the plan is for the selection committee to be comprised of 12 to 20 people. We also know SEC commissioner Mike Slive asked his athletic directors to submit nominees for consideration. “Conferences” have been invited to submit nominees, executive director Bill Hancock said. Whether that means all conferences is unclear.

Hancock said the search will likely focus on former administrators and coaches. The idea would be for decision-makers to be spread out evenly across the nation to avoid geographic bias.

At least one high-profile candidate seems to be waning on his interest level of participating. Hall of Fame Florida State coach Bobby Bowden wrote recently on Twitter that he reserved the right to change his mind after saying last year he would be interested.

Another Hall of Fame coach, Nebraska’s Tom Osborne, does seem interested in being one of the committee members.

Hancock said there is no timetable on deciding on a committee, though commissioners seem to favor having it in place by season’s end. Hopefully by the end of the week we will at least have a few names leak that whose merit we can debate.