Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel named Chair of College Football Playoff committee
A month after Michigan football won its first national championship of the 21st century, the school picked up a seat at the head of the table on the panel that decides the College Football Playoff field.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel was named the chair of the College Football Playoff selection committee by Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP, on Thursday. Manuel replaces Boo Corrigan, North Carolina State's athletic director, who served as chair for the past two seasons.
Manuel has been on the selection committee each of the past two seasons after he was named to a three-year post in January 2022. Manuel, who has served as Michigan's athletic director since 2016, is the only Big Ten administrator on the 13-person committee.
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“We are delighted that Warde will serve as chair,” Hancock said in a statement. “He has been a valuable member of the committee last two years and that experience will serve him well in leading the group. As a former student-athlete, he will also be a good spokesperson to let fans know how the committee reached its rankings.”
Manuel will be the face of the selection committee as the college football postseason undergoes seismic changes. The playoff, which started in the 2014-15 season, is expanding from a four-team field to 12 teams in 2024. The 12-team field will include the six highest-ranked conference champions as well as six teams with an at-large bid and the top four teams receiving a first-round bye.
First-round games will be played at venues selected by the lower-seeded team, and the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played at six bowl venues — the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and Peach Bowl ― that will rotate each season and the national championship will be determined through bidding by potential host sites.
Next season's quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2025, and the semifinals will be Jan. 9-10, 2025. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Along with Manuel's elevation to the chair position, the committee announced the addition of six new members to the selection committee: Washington State athletic director Patrick Chun, former Arizona State player Randall McDaniel, former Toledo and Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek.
The new members will be replacing Corrigan, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor, former Virginia Union coach Joe Taylor and former Notre Dame football player and businessman Rod West.
Michigan, who has made the playoff in three straight seasons and enter the 2024 season as the reigning champions, will look to get back to that spot in the expanded field with a team that will look much different, led by new head coach Sherrone Moore. Michigan was one of three Big Ten teams to make the four-team playoff, along with Ohio State and Michigan State, and one of two teams to win the national championship, along with the Buckeyes in 2014-15.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan AD Warde Manuel named chair of CFP committee
