In the largest seat available, Warde Manuel will spend his final year on the College Football Playoff selection committee.
On Thursday, the athletic director of Michigan was named the 2024 selection committee chair. He or she will be in charge of guiding the 13-member committee in creating a weekly rating of the college football teams in the United States.
Naturally, their objective is to decide the playoff field. However, Manuel’s new position will align with significant changes to the CFP, as the field is expected to grow from four to twelve teams in autumn.
Boo Corrigan, the athletic director at North Carolina State, steps down after a three-year term, and he takes over as committee chair.
“It has been an amazing experience serving on the committee for the past two years,” Manuel stated in a statement released on Thursday. “Because of their dedication to the game, I have the utmost regard for the time and work that each committee member puts in every week. It is a privilege to be asked to lead the committee.
The CFP management committee also declared on Thursday that six additional members had been appointed to the selection committee:
• Patrick Chun, athletic director at Washington State
• Former defensive lineman Randall McDaniel, an All-American for Arizona State
• Gary Pinkell, a former Missouri and Toledo head coach
• Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades
• Carla Williams, athletic director of Virginia
• Hunter Yurachek, athletic director at Arkansas
The tenure of Will Shields, a former Nebraska lineman who was an All-American, was likewise extended by one year. Longtime head coach and AD at Nevada Chris Ault, athletic director at Navy Chet Gladchuk, longtime head coach Jim Grobe, athletic director at Miami University David Sayler, and professor and veteran sportswriter Kelly Whiteside from Montclair State University complete the 2024 committee.
In the announcement, the CFP’s executive director, Bill Hancock, stated, “We are delighted that Warde will serve as chair.” “He has contributed significantly to the committee over the past two years, and his leadership skills will come in handy.”
He will also make an excellent speaker to inform supporters of how the committee arrived at its rankings because he was once a student-athlete.
Manuel’s Wolverines are coming off a perfect 15-0 campaign in which Michigan won the national championship of the College Football Playoffs and the Big Ten championship. However, the program spent a large portion of 2023 embroiled in scandal as a result of two separate NCAA investigations investigating possible rule infractions.
A back-and-forth with the Big Ten as a result of the investigations even caused Manuel to miss a selection committee meeting in November. Despite this, Michigan’s head coach Jim Harbaugh was punished for three games by the conference for violating its sportsmanship code.
CFP representatives, however, supported Manuel. The athletic director for Michigan “brought credibility to the committee, and he still has it,” according to Hancock.
Manuel will represent the playoff committee this fall.
