The New BCS Selection Committee

We are less than 100 days away from the start of the season. Less than that if you start the season with SEC media days like some folks. The College Football Playoff now has a name and a tentative schedule. Things are starting to take shape. Previously I had written an article about WHO should be on the committee thinking that personnel were the key to making sure no shenanigans or tom foolery took place when the four teams were selected.

After significant thought and no less than a couple of bar tabs between Billy and I my thinking has changed. The committee should be stewards, keepers of the game if you will. People in charge of maintaining and managing the teams selected as opposed to running the playoff. As a lifelong Presbyterian, I have some inside info on committees. If Presbyterians did not invent committees, they should have. Here are my thoughts on some guidelines that could be used to help make the selection process consistent and less likely fall victim to a hidden agenda.

• No lifetime appointments. My biggest fear is Lou Holtz being a part of the committee until the day he dies. We have seen what happens when people and egos become bigger than the institution they represent. A 15 member committee with each member serving three years. Each year five new members are added and after three years they rotate off. A member can serve multiple times but must be off for one year before being eligible. The committee would nominate and select the incoming class.

• The members would be compensated. The commitment is season long. The money the playoff will generate will allow committee members to be compensated for their time and effort.

• Members will be required to view multiple games each week and attend a set number of games in person. Tape should be made available of any significant game for committee members to review. Weekly conference calls should take place for members to discuss their impressions of teams on a week to week basis.

• Individual members could nominate any team that they feels worthy of a birth in the playoff bracket. After nominations the teams would be debated and discussed. Six separate votes would take place. First vote each member would vote by secret ballot for number one seed. The leading team would be assigned the top seed and removed from the pool of available teams. Second-sixth votes would be done in the same way. An independent party would count and record the votes. Following the naming of the top six teams, members would be made available to explain why they voted the way they did.

• Transparency. After the teams are selected, each member will be required to release their ballots. At the bare minimum a chair or representative would be made available to media if not all committee members. Filming of the selection process for future airing would be nice as well.

The biggest concern I read about and hear from friends is people are worried about a stacked deck. I believe that the above format would reduce hidden agendas. Each member ballot being made public as well as having to say, “I voted Oregon number four and Oklahoma number five for reasons X,Y, and Z” will help to eliminate agendas.