Each December a group of men and women are tasked with the impossible responsibility of selecting the four teams who will compete in the College Football Playoff system. Say what you will about the four-team playoff model — some love it, some want to expand it, some want to abolish it — but there’s no disputing it has increased the drama in the sport coming down to the final weeks of the season. While they’ll never fully be appreciated, let’s take a quick look at the people working on the committee this year:
Kirby Hocutt: The Texas Tech athletic director is best known for having served as the chairman of the playoff committee a year ago. He ends up wearing the criticism every Tuesday night once the new rankings come out. A former player at Kansas State, he has been involved in college athletics for over 30 years.
Frank Beamer: Perhaps the best-known member of the committee, Beamer was the longtime head coach at Virginia Tech where he took the Hokies to a multitude of conference championships and even a national title game appearance. He is a Hall of Fame coach who will give on the field experience to the committee and perhaps offer insights others can’t contribute.
Jeff Bower: Another former head football coach from Southern Miss who retired in 2007, Bower led the Golden Eagles to four Conference USA titles. He had previously served as an assistant three other schools and was named Conference USA Coach of the Decade in 2004.
Herb Deromedi: A 2007 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Deromedi spent his entire career at Central Michigan serving as both a head coach and AD.
Chris Howard: Howard is likely the most diversified member of the playoff committee, having not only played college football at Air Force but having spent time in the military, where he served in Afghanistan as well as earning degrees from Harvard and Oxford. He currently resides as the president of Robert Morris University.
Tom Jernstedt: Jernstedt is an alum of Oregon University, where he played football and has worked in the NCAAs in a variety of roles for nearly 40 years.
Bobby Johnson: The former Vanderbilt coach who won SEC Coach of the Year honors in 2008 has made a career in coaching in the NCAAs and is yet another voice from the coaching ranks who can’t quite leave the game.
Jeff Long: The initial chairman of the playoff committee, Long is the current Arkansas athletic director and enters his third year of service on the committee. His initial season involved the debate of conference champions’ places in the playoffs when co-Big 12 champs TCU and Baylor were left out.
Rob Mullens: Mullens has been the athletic director for Oregon since 2010 and is a graduate of West Virginia University.
Dan Radakovich: The Clemson athletic director who came over from Georgia Tech has become one of the better known ADs in the country after Clemson’s national title last season and figures to be among the biggest voices in the room.
Gene Smith: The Ohio State athletic director has long been a well-known name in college football circles dating back to the Jim Tressel saga years ago. He is a Notre Dame graduate and a member of the Irish’s 1973 national title team. Many have wondered how much influence his presence on the committee had in Ohio State getting in a year ago.
Steve Wieberg: Wieberg is the lone journalist on the committee, having written for USA Today for over 30 years. He is living the dream of many casual college football bloggers nationwide, being a part of this collection of people determining the four playoff teams.
Ty Willingham: Best known for his time at Stanford and Notre Dame as a head coach, Willingham saw great success at Stanford, where he won two Pac-12 Coach of the Year titles before struggling to replicate that success with the Irish. He failed miserably, but many would say that he wasn’t quite given a fair shake.
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