College Football Playoff Selection Committee adds Hall of Fame coach, will feature two female members

Hall-of-Fame coach Chris Ault, Washington Capitals athletic director Jennifer Cohen, and Miami-Ohio Athletic Director David Seiler will join the College Football Playoffs Committee for a three-year term beginning in 2023. CFP announced on Wednesday. In addition, NC State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan will return as chairman for a second season.

Olt is a legendary college coach who initiated the Pistol attack during three different appearances in Nevada from 1976 to 2012. He won 10 Big Sky, Big West, and WAC conference championships and won the 1991 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award. Cohen has been a member of the Washington Athletic Department in various leadership roles since 1998 and was named Athletic Director in 2016. Sailer has served as a sports director in Miami since 2013 after a two-year stint in the same position in South Dakota.

“We are thrilled to have Chris, Jennifer and David join the selection committee as we enter our tenth season,” said CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock. “Their experience, understanding and character, as well as their passion for college football, will allow them to make the transition seamlessly with returning members.”

With the arrival of Cohen, the CFP committee will have two women members for the first time since its inception in 2014. Cohen joins former sportswriter Kelly Whiteside.

Ault, Cohen and Sailer join the committee, which also includes Corrigan, Michigan State Athletic Director Ward Manuel, Kansas State Athletic Director Jean Taylor, former Nebraska lineman Will Shields, and six others with extensive college football experience. Eight members of the committee are sports directors. Three new additions will help the CFP participate in an expanded 12-team college football playoff in 2024.

The trio will replace Colorado Athletic Director Rick George, former NFL and Penn State lineman John Urschel and Wyoming Athletic Director Tom Berman, who served three-year terms.