MANHATTAN, Kansas –College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock today announced that Gene Taylor, director of athletics at Kansas State University, will join the CFP selection committee. Taylor will serve a three-year term beginning this season.
Taylor was nominated by the Big 12 Conference, and the nomination was approved by the CFP management committee. He will replace Chris del Conte, director of athletics at the University of Texas.
“Gene is well respected and will be an excellent member of the committee,” Hancock said. “We look forward to welcoming him to the group.”
“I am grateful to be selected to serve on the CFP Selection Committee, and I look forward to this exciting opportunity,” Taylor said. “I appreciate the Big 12 nominating me. The committee has a very important job to select the best football teams, and I am thrilled to be a part of this process.”
Taylor has served as athletics director at Kansas State University since 2017. During his tenure, K-State has seen the football program qualify for three bowls, the men’s basketball team win a Big 12 Championship, earn an Elite 8 appearance and advance to two NCAA tournaments, and the women’s track and field team win back-to-back Big 12 Outdoor championships.
Prior to joining Kansas State, Taylor served as deputy athletics director at the University of Iowa from 2014-17. From 2001-2014, he was the athletics director at North Dakota State, where he successfully guided the athletics program through the reclassification to NCAA Division I from Division II, highlighted by three-straight FCS National Championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The CFP selection committee is responsible for selecting the top four teams in the playoff and assigning them to semifinal games, as well as ranking the other top 25 teams. The committee meets in-person beginning late in the football season and produces a ranking of the top 25 teams each week leading up to its final selections.
The current selection committee members are Mitch Barnhart (athletics director, University of Kentucky), Gary Barta (athletics director, University of Iowa) (Chair), Paola Boivin (professor, Arizona State University), Tom Burman (athletics director, University of Wyoming), Charlie Cobb (athletics director, Georgia State University), Boo Corrigan (athletics director, North Carolina State University), Rick George (athletics director, University of Colorado), Will Shields (former All-American offensive lineman, University of Nebraska), Gene Taylor (athletics director, Kansas State University), Joe Taylor (Vice President for Athletics and Community Wellness, Virginia Union University), John Urschel (former All-American offensive lineman, Penn State University), Rod West (group president Entergy Corporation) and Tyrone Willingham (former head coach Stanford University, Notre Dame, University of Washington).
For more information on the selection committee, visit www.collegefootballplayoff.com.
About the College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff matches the No. 1 ranked team vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl Game. This season’s Playoff Semifinals will take place Friday, December 31, 2021, at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and the Capital One Orange Bowl. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 10, 2022, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
