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Alabama Football: The new CFB Selection Committee for the 2018 season

By Ronald Evans

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /
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Alabama football fans love the past CFB Football Selection committees. Will the six new members gain more Crimson Tide appreciation?

Change is good as long as it is not too much change. No team has benefited more than Alabama football from the CFB Selection process and efforts to pick each season’s four best teams. The Playoff selection process has many detractors, though fewer than past methods to define a college football national championship.

It is an honor to serve on the committee. It is also very difficult, demanding work. No measure of competence is enough to satisfy each season’s disgruntled teams and fanbases. Despite the committee’s distinction, shedding the committee burden at the end of a term must be a relief.

2017 committee member and University of Oregon Athletic Director (AD), Rob Mullens moves up to the chairman duties on February 1st. He is replacing Texas Tech AD, Kirby Hocutt. Mullens becomes the committee’s third chairman since the committee began in 2014. Jeff Long, former University of Arkansas AD, was the first chairman.

The committee structure is designed that each of the Power Five conferences are represented by an AD. There are no Group of Five representatives on the committee.

Other committee members continuing in 2018 are:

  • Former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer
  • Former Southern Mississippi head coach Jeff Bower
  • Former Central Michigan head coach Herb Deromedi
  • Robert Morris University President Chris Howard
  • Former Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson
  • Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith

For sticking with the ‘best four teams’ argument Alabama football fans appreciate the seven members who continue in 2018. Given the past ‘always’ inclusion of Alabama football, Crimson Tide fans should also welcome new 2018, committee members:

  • Paola Boivin – Bolvin is a professor at Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She had a long career in journalism including 13 years at The Arizona Republic. 
  • Joe Castiglione – University of Oklahoma Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Programs and Director of Athletics.
  • Ken Hatfield – Former head football coach at Air Force, Arkansas and Rice.
  • Ronnie Lott – Former USC football star, Lott played in the NFL for 14 seasons. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
  • Todd Stansbury – Stansbury is AD at Georgia Tech. Prior to Tech, Stansbury was AD at Oregon State and UCF.
  • Scott Stricklin – Strickland is AD at the University of Florida. Prior to Florida, he was AD at Mississippi State.

Departing committee members are Kirby Hocutt, Tom Jernstedt, Jeff Long, Dan Radakovich, Steve Wieberg, and Ty Willingham.

Next: John Petty torched the Tigers in T-Town.

The new CFB Selection Committee will face much debate in 2018 deliberations. The Playoff was perceived by many as protection against two teams from the same conference playing in the title game. Two SEC teams in the final four knocked two Power Five conferences out of the Playoff. Plus, Group of Five ‘exclusion’ claims were fueled by the nonsense UCF had a legitimate claim on a national championship.

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