George Named To College Football Playoff Selection Committee
January 22, 2020 | General
Will serve three-year term on 13-member committee
BOULDER — University of Colorado athletic director Rick George has been named to the College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee, executive director Bill Hancock announced Wednesday morning. He will serve a three-year term beginning with their first meetings later this spring.
George, 59, will be one of three new representatives on the 13-member selection committee, which is charged with creating six weekly top 25 rankings beginning the first week of November, and culminating in the selection of the four teams that will compete in the CFP playoffs and the additional eight schools that will earn bids into the other four "New Year's Six" bowls (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange and Peach).
"I am humbled and honored to join the College Football Playoff Selection Committee," George said. "The game of football has provided me with endless opportunities throughout my lifetime. This opportunity gives me the chance to give back to this great game. I'm excited to get to work alongside Bill Hancock and the other members of the committee."
George is completing his seventh year as CU's athletic director and has already had several other high profile appointments, most recently to the NCAA's 18-member working group studying student-athlete name, image and likeness (NIL) issues (with recommendations due in January 2021). He also serves on the Division I Council of the NCAA, is part of the NCAA's D1 Council Transfer Working Group, and recently completed a two-year term as chair of the LEAD1 Association, which represents the athletic directors, programs and student-athletes of the 130 member schools of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
"Rick will be a terrific member of the committee," Hancock said. "He has the two characteristics that we look for in committee members: he is a person of high integrity and he knows the game very well. We're delighted he will be joining the group and look forward to working with him."
Pac-12 Conference commissioner Larry Scott nominated George, with his nomination subsequently approved by the CFP management committee, which includes the 10 Football Subdivision conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. Discussions to improve on the former Bowl Championship Series (BCS) began in 2011, and on Nov. 12, 2012 (in a Denver meeting), the presidents and chancellors unanimously approved the format that called for a stand-alone championship game and semifinals rotating through three contract bowls and three other bowls. The current format was implemented beginning with the 2014 season, the first of 12 years the presidents and chancellors approved of and signed contracts with the bowls and ESPN.
George, Tom Burman (Wyoming athletic director) and John Urschel (former Penn State linebacker) are replacing Rob Mullens (Oregon athletic director), Chris Howard (Robert Morris University president) and Frank Beamer (former Virginia Tech head coach) on the selection committee. Mullens had served as the chair of the committee for the last two years, a role that will now be assumed by Gary Barta (Iowa athletic director).
The 2020 CFP semifinals will be next January 1 in the Rose and Sugar bowls, with the seventh annual CFP championship game set for January 11, 2021 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
George, 59, will be one of three new representatives on the 13-member selection committee, which is charged with creating six weekly top 25 rankings beginning the first week of November, and culminating in the selection of the four teams that will compete in the CFP playoffs and the additional eight schools that will earn bids into the other four "New Year's Six" bowls (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange and Peach).
"I am humbled and honored to join the College Football Playoff Selection Committee," George said. "The game of football has provided me with endless opportunities throughout my lifetime. This opportunity gives me the chance to give back to this great game. I'm excited to get to work alongside Bill Hancock and the other members of the committee."
George is completing his seventh year as CU's athletic director and has already had several other high profile appointments, most recently to the NCAA's 18-member working group studying student-athlete name, image and likeness (NIL) issues (with recommendations due in January 2021). He also serves on the Division I Council of the NCAA, is part of the NCAA's D1 Council Transfer Working Group, and recently completed a two-year term as chair of the LEAD1 Association, which represents the athletic directors, programs and student-athletes of the 130 member schools of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
"Rick will be a terrific member of the committee," Hancock said. "He has the two characteristics that we look for in committee members: he is a person of high integrity and he knows the game very well. We're delighted he will be joining the group and look forward to working with him."
Pac-12 Conference commissioner Larry Scott nominated George, with his nomination subsequently approved by the CFP management committee, which includes the 10 Football Subdivision conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. Discussions to improve on the former Bowl Championship Series (BCS) began in 2011, and on Nov. 12, 2012 (in a Denver meeting), the presidents and chancellors unanimously approved the format that called for a stand-alone championship game and semifinals rotating through three contract bowls and three other bowls. The current format was implemented beginning with the 2014 season, the first of 12 years the presidents and chancellors approved of and signed contracts with the bowls and ESPN.
George, Tom Burman (Wyoming athletic director) and John Urschel (former Penn State linebacker) are replacing Rob Mullens (Oregon athletic director), Chris Howard (Robert Morris University president) and Frank Beamer (former Virginia Tech head coach) on the selection committee. Mullens had served as the chair of the committee for the last two years, a role that will now be assumed by Gary Barta (Iowa athletic director).
The 2020 CFP semifinals will be next January 1 in the Rose and Sugar bowls, with the seventh annual CFP championship game set for January 11, 2021 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.