šŸˆ Condoleezza Rice has no business on the College Football Playoff committee (Kevin Scarbinsky)

College football may be one of her passions, but it's not her business. Literally. The contending teams deserve to have football pros deciding their fate.

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Condoleezza Rice? On the first College Football Playoff committee?

Seriously?

No disrespect to the distinguished former Secretary of State, but have the people in charge of this process lost their minds?

Rice is qualified to do a lot more things than most people, perhaps up to and including running the country, but she has no business helping to decide the four teams that'll have a shot at the national title starting in 2014.

It's not personal. It's just that college football is not her business.

It may be one of her passions. It may be a game she's loved since childhood. It may even be a small part of her DNA as a Birmingham native.

But college football has never been how she's made her living. She's never spent day after day, week after week, year after year, with college football foremost on her mind.

You can say she's had more important things to do, which is true in the big picture, but that's the point. If you're going to be a member of that committee, college football should be the most important thing you do.

You should be consumed with watching it, studying it, spending time around the people who play it and coach it. It's not necessary that you played it or coached it yourself to understand it, but having been in the arena doesn't hurt.

The players and coaches who find themselves on the short list of potential playoff teams next season deserve nothing less than the undivided attention of football professionals.

Rice, who teaches political science at Stanford, is a lot of things. A scholar. An intellectual. A class act. She's a shining example of how a young woman from Birmingham, Alabama, can overcome any number of obstacles to become one of the most powerful and respected individuals in the world.

What she's not, and never has been, is a football professional. Every single member of the first College Football Playoff committee, at the very least, should have that distinction on his resume.
 
Stewart Mandel comments on Condi's selection.

Organizers of the upcoming College Football Playoff recently said the roster for the much-anticipated selection committee would be finalized by season's end, but in recent days, 13 names of the expected "12 to 18" members have leaked out. As reported or confirmed by various outlets, they are:

Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez; Retired Air Force Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael Gould; USC AD Pat Haden; Former NCAA executive Tom Jernstedt; Arkansas AD Jeff Long; West Virginia AD Oliver Luck; quarterback patriarch Archie Manning; former Nebraska coach and AD Tom Osborne; Clemson AD Dan Radakovich; former Stanford provost and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese; former USA Today college sports writer Steve Wieberg; and former Stanford, Notre Dame and Washington coach Tyrone Willingham.

One name -- Rice -- has garnered far more attention than the others. Some of the reactions, like ESPN analyst David Pollack's comments on GameDay, have been predictably chauvinistic. But some of the criticism also evokes a simple-minded falsehood about the task these people will be conducting, which is, that one has to have played or coached college football to to be able to properly identify the four best college football teams. That's absurd. On the list of most important attributes, it's much more important the person can properly commit their time; think for themselves; make coherent and influential arguments in a group; interpret advanced football metrics; and conduct themselves with integrity, most notably by recusing themselves from discussions about schools with which they have conflicts of interest.

Whether or not you agree with her politics, Rice, a Birmingham native and Alabama fan who's currently back at Stanford (where she was provost from 1993-99) as a professor, is a brilliant mind that also happens to be the daughter of a football coach. Cardinal coach David Shaw told the student paper earlier this year that "he and Rice have drawn up some safety plays or considered ways to exploit the mismatches that Stanford's tight ends have created in recent years."

Hmm. A critical thinker who closely follows college football, understands the nuances of the sport and knows a thing or two about making pressure-packed decisions. She may be more qualified than most of the names on that list.

Contacted Sunday, CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock declined to discuss any of the specific names, saying, "The process has not been completed." He did, however, address one of the chief concerns being raised, which is, how much time will committee members actually spend watching games? After all, the current ADs are busy on football Saturdays, and you know, Willingham is a pretty avid golfer.

"Members will be watching plenty of video every weekend," said Hancock. "They're going to have access to games on their computers. We're
looking at the possibility of sending cutdown versions electronically. Members are expected to watch video of games." They'll also meet in person several times per year.

It's no secret this committee will face scrutiny and criticism no matter who serves on it. Biases will be alleged. Decisions will be questioned.

It's really a no-win proposition. Of all the possible names that have been discussed, the reported list really is a nice mix of differing viewpoints and backgrounds, administrative experience, coaching and playing experience and journalism experience. It certainly beats the heck out of the USA Today coaches poll.
 
For once, I agree with Scarbo. Everyone on that committee should be a football professional. Someone whose career has been spent evaluating talent, coaching, or.... setting odds/lines on games :)
 
For once, I agree with Scarbo. Everyone on that committee should be a football professional. Someone whose career has been spent evaluating talent, coaching, or.... setting odds/lines on games :)

Using that logic should Tranghese be on the committee? After all, his decision to focus on basketball instead of football was one of the primary reasons the Big East folded.
 
I found this interesting. It's a decent read from the Stanford student paper.
Rice’s father was a football coach, and she joked that she was ā€œsupposed to be his star middle linebacker.ā€ Although Rice’s gender may have derailed that plan, that didn’t stop her father from talking football with his only child.


Shaw said that he and Rice have drawn up some safety plays or considered ways to exploit the mismatches that Stanford’s tight ends have created in recent years.


ā€œShe loves that dynamic that we use to make big plays and also be big targets in the Red Zone,ā€ Shaw said. ā€œShe hates prevent defenses. She loves defenses that are aggressive at the end of the game.ā€
 
Folks with ties to the system as it is gave us the crap that is the BCS. Smart people who have an outsiders view but some knowledge of the game should be included, just not as more than a small minority of the members. How about let's see if her being included messes anything up before we scream about her being included. To be brutally honest, a lot of the screaming almost sounds like these guys are scared that a girl might mess up their game.

I honestly find it more problematic to have folks who are intimately tied to particular schools be involved. Can we really expect that is USC is on the cusp of being in or out that Pat Holden is going to vote against them? Or Jeff Long against Arkansas?
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>RT <a href="https://twitter.com/aldotcomTigers">@aldotcomTigers</a>: Pat Dye on Condoleezza Rice: 'All she knows about football is what somebody told her' <a href="http://t.co/4jDYE3fgWq">http://t.co/4jDYE3fgWq</a></p>&mdash; C_Football_Newswire (@CFBW) <a href="https://twitter.com/CFBW/statuses/387297127174795264">October 7, 2013</a></blockquote>
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What is Mandel saying here? Is he telling her "It's Pat Dye, what do you expect?"

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Pat Dye. RT <a href="https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach">@NicoleAuerbach</a>: Why do men keep saying things like this?? Stop, please. <a href="http://t.co/zptHokdlbA">http://t.co/zptHokdlbA</a></p>&mdash; Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) <a href="https://twitter.com/slmandel/statuses/387298746297364481">October 7, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Dye's full comment:
"All she knows about football is what somebody told her," Dye said. "Or what she read in a book, or what she saw on television. To understand football, you've got to play with your hand in the dirt."


"I love Condoleezza Rice and she's probably a good statesman and all of that but how in the hell does she know what it's like out there when you can't get your breath and it's 110 degrees and the coach asks you to go some more?"

I'm inclined to believe some of the attitudes against Rice come from a misogynistic side of a few personalities.

However, sticking strictly with facts. Note Dye's comment, "To understand football, you've got to play with your hand in the dirt." That's just stupidity. Take Lombardi for one example. Do you think he understood football? He didn't play. Paul Brown, Bill Bilichek, Bill Walsh...this list continues. Mike Leach understands the game: a lawyer.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Where is the criticism of other playoff committee members? Why not question some ADs, a former NCAA VP &amp; an ex-Big East commish?</p>&mdash; Jon Solomon (@jonsol) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonsol/statuses/387304895633973248">October 7, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Whew, for a second I thought you were going to bring Weis into the discussion.

I thought about him as well as fRan.

I'm still waiting for someone to comment on Tranghese. I see Mandel finally mentioned how vehemently Tranghese was against a playoff in the first place.
 
Using that logic should Tranghese be on the committee? After all, his decision to focus on basketball instead of football was one of the primary reasons the Big East folded.
Nope, he shouldn't.

Football professionals. NFL or College.

Let me clarify, I think members should have playing or coaching experience. If they don't, they are just fans like us. AD's and commissioners wouldnt qualify to me. Mal Moore (rip) would have made a great one. Tranghese, not so much.

As much as I dislike Pat Dye, I would trust his ability to identify a good football team over Condi Rice. Same for fRan and Mike Leach.
 
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I have no comment on Dr. Rice's qualifications to be on this selection committee. I will say, however, that I cannot think of anyone less qualified to evaluate who should be on that committee than scabs.
 
I have no comment on Dr. Rice's qualifications to be on this selection committee. I will say, however, that I cannot think of anyone less qualified to evaluate who should be on that committee than scabs.
A stopped clock, along with drunk, senile ex-barn coaches, is right twice a day :)

The rest of the time, Scarbo is insufferable....
 
A stopped clock, along with drunk, senile ex-barn coaches, is right twice a day :)

The rest of the time, Scarbo is insufferable....

I can't help but think about the time he applied for employment at the Birmingham News some 20-25 years ago. He wanted to be the food editor. They didn't have a vacancy there, but offered him a job as a sports reporter. To me he has the sports expertise of someone whose first ambition was to be the food editor.
 
Nope, he shouldn't.

Football professionals. NFL or College.

Let me clarify, I think members should have playing or coaching experience. If they don't, they are just fans like us. AD's and commissioners wouldnt qualify to me. Mal Moore (rip) would have made a great one. Tranghese, not so much.

As much as I dislike Pat Dye, I would trust his ability to identify a good football team over Condi Rice. Same for fRan and Mike Leach.

I would trust my mother to identify a good football team over Pat Dye... and my mother has never watched a down of football in her life...

"But we's young paaaaaaawl!"

"I'd take Chizik over 10 Nick Saban's"

I rest my case...
 
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