We’ve come a long way since Condoleezza Rice
. When the former U.S. Secretary of State served on the College Football Playoff Committee, it was a little easier undertaking choosing the CFP participants since there were only four teams. Now in 2025, the count is 12 teams (and rising?) and many factions of this world have bowed to the concept of “participation trophies” instead of taking the 12 best.It is a thankless (and compensation-less) task to serve on this committee and each member is trusted
to do their own research for the first two months of the season. How each panelist is recruited is unknown, as is their diligence in following the current game. However, their affiliations and potential biases are components that can be easily researched.
Each delegate is subject to recusal but ONLY if the member receives direct compensation from the institution in question or has an immediate family member who is a football student-athlete, football staff member, or senior administrator at the institution. That’s it! Controversially, being a graduate or former employee of a certain school has no limitations as to their involvement in the process. Imagine if Danny Kannell was on the CFPC. He would not have to step outside the room when there were discussions about his beloved FSU.
The 2025 College Football Playoff Selection Committee members are divided into two categories: current Athletics Directors and random old retired guys.
Current Athletics Directors (6):
TROY DANNEN, B1G
Position: Athletics Director, Nebraska
Age: 59
SEC Roots: None.
Hmm: Born, raised in Iowa, graduated from UNI; Previous AD at Northern Iowa, Tulane, Washington
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Iowa, Iowa State, Washington.
CHRIS MASSARO, C-USA
Position: 21st year as Athletics Director for Middle Tennessee State
Age: Mid 60s
SEC Roots: Nada.
Hmm: Colorado native; Played football for Northern Colorado; Master’s degree from Ohio University
Potential Bias/No Recusal: –
DAVID SAYLER, MAC
Position: Athletics Director, Miami-OH
Age: 56
SEC Roots: Worked at Georgia somewhere in his career.
Hmm: Ohio raised; Former AD at South Dakota, interim AD at Rice; Also spent time at Rice, Oregon State, Bowling Green, Houston, Hartford, Georgia, and UConn.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: UGA, Houston.
CARLA WILLIAMS, ACC
Position: Athletics Director, Virginia
Age: 59ish
SEC Roots: Georgia native, played for and was assistant basketball for UGA. Many years working for Vandy and Georgia administrations.
Hmm: Started admin career at FSU, where she also got her doctorate.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: UGA, FSU, Vandy.
HUNTER YURACHEK, SEC
Position: Athletics Director, Arkansas
Age: 56
SEC Roots: Arky AD, three years as assistant AD at Vanderbilt.
Hmm: Born in Richmond, Virginia, and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina; Former Coastal Carolina and Houston AD; Stints at Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Western Carolina, Virginia, and Akron.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Vandy, Carolina schools.
MACK RHOADES, B12
Position: Athletics Director, Baylor
Age: 59
SEC Roots: Missouri AD (2015–2016)
Hmm: Former AD at Akron and Houston; “Resigned” as AD of Mizzou after poor handling of assault cases. Arizona and Indiana educated.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Houston, Arizona, Indiana; Guessing he probably won’t be favorable towards Mizz since they fired him. But might he trash them?
Random Old Retired Guys:
CHRIS AULT
Position: Former player, longtime Head Coach and Athletics Director of Nevada
Age: 78
SEC Roots: Nothing.
Hmm: Spent most his life and career in Nevada.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: –
MARK DANTONIO
Position: Former Head Coach, 13 seasons at Michigan State and 3 years at Cincinnati
Age: 69
SEC Roots: Played defensive back at South Carolina (1976-1978), though the Gamecocks did not join the SEC until 1992.
Hmm: Originally from El Paso, Texas; Never coached in the South.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Sparty, Cincy
JEFF LONG
Position: Former Athletics Director Kansas, Arkansas, Pitt and Eastern Kentucky
Age: 66
SEC Roots: Former Arky AD (2008–2017) though not fond memories, former Senior Associate AD at Oklahoma but way before SEC membership.
Hmm: Former quarterback at Ohio Wesleyan; Hired and fired controversial football coach Bobby Petrino, fired soon after from Arky in 2017; Hired Les Miles at Kansas, forced out with Miles in 2021.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Should Arkansas be in the running (ya never know), might his ugly departure from the university cause him to take a swipe at his former employer?
RANDALL MCDANIEL
Position: Former All-American offensive lineman, Arizona State University; Pro Football Hall of Fame member, primarily with the Vikings
Age: 60
SEC Roots: Zip.
Hmm:
After his playing career, McDaniel worked for 19 years as an elementary school basic skills instructor and tutor in Minnesota school district. He retired from this position in 2021.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Arizona State, Minnie?
MIKE RILEY
Position: Former head coach of Oregon State and Nebraska, as well as head coach in the NFL, CFL, WLAF, AAF and USFL
Age: 72
SEC Roots: Played for Alabama (1971–1974).
Hmm: Grew up in Idaho and Corvallis, Oregon. Played for Alabama due to family connections to the state and school, but left the South after graduation and never coached east of the Mississippi River.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Alabama, Nebraska
WESLEY WALLS
Position: Former All-American tight end for the University of Mississippi; 15 year NFL career, most notably with the Carolina Panthers.
Age: 59
SEC Roots: Mississippi native, played at Ole Miss.
Hmm: Never coached or worked in media. Works in real estate and furniture in Mississippi since his last season in the NFL (2003).
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Ole Miss
IVAN MAISEL
Position: Former sportswriter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sports Illustrated, the Dallas Morning News, Newsday, ESPN and On3; Stanford graduate
Age: mid to upper 60s
SEC Roots: Alumnus of Murphy High in Mobile. Father attended Alabama.
Hmm: He is a long-time resident of Connecticut. Probably the ONLY qualified person on this committee.
Potential Bias/No Recusal: Probably none. In his long career covering college football, he has never shown any favoritism or unfairness towards the Crimson Tide. He knows how this process SHOULD go.
Broken System
When it was only four teams, the Committee’s job was a little easier. Now that there are 12 teams and so much money on the line, Athletic Directors have no business being members of the group that decides the College Football Playoff bracket for many reasons. Mainly, there is great danger of them being super-biased for a conference as we saw with mega-slimeball Warde Manuel, AD of Michigan, from last season. Additionally, ADs don’t watch all the games. It is highly unlikely that they watch any games other than the one played by their own universities. Nebraska, for instance, has 21 NCAA sports. There is no way Troy Dannen is watching anything more than the Cornhuskers game while he has hundreds of staff, alumni glad-handing, and other Saturday game day duties to attend to, in addition to other ongoing fall sports and winter sports revving up.
The practice of including former players, coaches, and administrators who are in retirement mode is a better structure for such a committee. But insightful people like Ivan Maisel is a better direction to take for future committees.
Why not include “experts” who have proven to be unbiased and knowledgeable about the current game? Bringing in a Josh Pate with his relative youth and acumen would be like bringing in Shakespeare to teach 7th grade English Composition. Other potential candidates are Brett McMurphy, Dennis Dodd, Chris Low, Pat McAfee. I’d even say Paul Finebaum could be objective. What is Samantha Ponder up to these days? You may not like some of these people but at least get some guys who follow the game.
The first rankings announcement is set for the evening of Tuesday, November 4.
