If you’ve watched any college football at all this season, you’ve almost certainly been inundated with discussion about the College Football Playoff, which expands to 12 teams from four for the first time in 2024.
The expanded playoff certainly provides quite a bit of intrigue, with five spots guaranteed to conference champions and the remaining seven spots up for grabs. How those teams are determined, and how the 12 teams are ultimately seeded, is up to the College Football Playoff selection committee.
So, who comprises this College Football Playoff committee?
It’s made up of 13 individuals with varying backgrounds in the sport. Most are current athletics directors, though some are former players, coaches and, historically, Condoleeza Rice.
But who sits on the committee this year? Here are the current 13 members of the College Football Playoff selection committee, which will determine what is sure to be a well-received, non-controversial 12-team field:
- Warde Manuel, committee chair: Michigan athletics director
- Chris Ault: Former head coach at Nevada
- Chet Gladchuk: Navy athletics director
- Jim Grobe: Former head coach at Ohio, Wake Forest and Baylor
- Randall McDaniel: Former Arizona State player
- Gary Pinkel: Former head coach at Toledo and Missouri
- Mack Rhoades: Baylor athletics director
- Mike Riley: Former head coach at Oregon State and Nebraska
- David Sayler: Miami (Ohio) athletics director
- Will Shields: Former Nebraska player
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Kelly Whiteside: Journalist
(Full disclosure: Whiteside previously worked for USA TODAY for 14 years.) - Carla Williams: Virginia athletics director
- Hunter Yurachek: Arkansas athletics director
