This is the year of the playoff. The BCS has died and gone away. Now instead of objective computers mixed with subjective polls, we have moved to a group of people who will subjectively select the four best teams in the country, based on their opinion. It will certainly not end all the debate and bellyaching at the end of the season as coaches and fans state their case for why their team should be included over a different team. Will it be better? We don’t know yet. Let’s take a look at who will be making the decisions.

COMMITTEE MEMEBERS:

Jeff Long – Chairman
Barry Alvarez – AD Wisconsin
Lieutenant General Mike Gould – Former Superintendent Air Force Academy
Pat Haden – AD University of Southern California
Tom Jernstedt- Former NCAA Executive Vice President
Oliver Luck – AD West Virginia
Archie Manning – Legend
Tom Osborne – Also Legend
Dan Radakovich – AD Clemson
Condoleezza Rice – Stanford Professor, Former Secretary of State
Mike Tranghese – Former Big East Commissioner
Steve Weiberg – Former USA Today CFB writer
Tyrone Willingham – Former Head Coach

We’re going to double up again this week as we get closer to the committee actually meeting. Let’s take a look at the paths of Dan Radakovich and Condoleeza Rice.

Dan Radakovich

Dan Radakovich got his start in college athletics as a tight end, punter, and student coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 1976 to 1980. In 1983 he became the Athletics Business Manager at the University of Miami (FL) and remained there for two years. He switched coasts in 1989 trading Florida for California as the Senior Associate Athletics Director at Long Beach State University, staying in that position until 1994. That year, he moved coasts again, this time ended up at the University of South Carolina as the Athletics Chief Financial Officer. He served in that role until 2000 when he became the Athletics Director at American University. That only lasted one year before he moved on to Louisiana State University as their Senior Associate Athletics Director. He was at LSU from 2001 to 2006. In 2006, he moved on to Georgia Tech as the schools Athletics Director until 2012. That year, he became the Director of Athletics at Clemson, a position he currently holds today. Radakovich has received a number of awards, including being inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 and being recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2009.

Condoleeza Rice

Rice received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Denver, then went on to get her Master’s from Notre Dame. She continued her education back at the University of Denver getting her Doctorate in international studies. Rice began teaching at Stanford in 1981, and continued there until 1989. In 1988 she was on Stanford’s Football Search Committee. In 1987 she served as an advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and later served as the director of Soviet and East European Affairs on the National Security Council. She returned to Stanford in 1993, serving as Provost until 1999. As Provost, Athletics reported to her. She oversaw budget, recruiting, coaching personnel and bowl appearances. She was also in the Board of Directors at the University of Notre Dame from 1994 to 2000, hiring Tyrone Willingham as head coach in 1994. In 2001, she turned her attention back to politics service as U.S. National Security Advisor from 2001 to 2005, then at U.S. Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009. Following her time as Secretary of State, Rice returned to Stanford where she continues to teach as a Professor of political economy. Rice has been named one of Time magazines “100 Most Influential People” four times and has twice been tapped by Forbes Magazine as “Most Powerful Woman in the World”.

Hot Seat Questions We Would Totally Ask If We Had A Sponsored Hot Seat Segment:
*answers are what we think they would probably say when given the chance

First up, Dan- as the AD for Clemson, what is your take on the whole “Clemsoning” thing?
Well, I see it as a positive. Any time you have other schools and fans talking about you, that increases your profile, which is what we are all about at Clemson. The more we get pumped up, the easier it is to convince recruits that “next year” is actually going to be next year.

Condi, football? This seems beneath you. How excited were you to get the nod for the Playoff Committee?
I see it as a challenge. And an honor. A challenging honor. Basically, it is really just a stepping stone for me. I have my eyes set on the NFL Commissioner’s chair and with the way Goodell is going, I could be sitting in it as soon as this committee rests for the season.

This thing is coming up quickly, have you all been paying attention to all the games? There are so many to keep track of.
CR: I am used to keeping an eye on multiple things at once. I sat on a Board of Directors for one school while serving as provost at another. Plus that whole Secretary of State thing, so yeah, I can keep my eyes on everything at once.

DR: I’m just excited to be here. Who would have thought that being AD at a continuously disappointing football school would earn me a right to sit on this committee. Sure, I try and keep my eye on everything, but not much exists outside the ACC [laughs], sorry, I couldn’t even say that with a straight face.