Raleigh, N.C. — NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan will serve as chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee again in 2023, the final year before the four-team playoff expands to 12.
Corrigan, who joined the committee in 2021 and served as chairman in 2022, is the fifth man to helm the 13-member selection committee since the playoff began in 2014. Each previous chairman served for two seasons.
“It was a privilege to serve as the committee chair last year,” Corrigan said in a statement. “I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside an outstanding group of individuals who are deeply committed to college football, and I am honored to be asked to return to that role again for the 2023 season.”
The committee’s membership, including three new members, was announced Wednesday.
“We are pleased that Boo will return as chair,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP. “He did an outstanding job leading the committee last year, serving as an efficient manager inside the room and an effective spokesperson to the media and fans.”
The job does come with some drawbacks.
Corrigan said he was away for 53 days from Sept. 1 through the middle of December. The committee meets in-person in Texas each week in the second half of the season. Corrigan also attended meetings around the national title game in January. The rankings are released on Tuesday nights and, as chairman, Corrigan has media responsibilities afterward, including appearing on ESPN to answer questions. It is part of the gig he does not like or look forward to.
“It’s an unbelievably great committee,” Corrigan told WRAL in December. “But it takes an awful lot of time and commitment.”
The assignment kept Corrigan from campus and away from some NC State events. He said there is a good system in place for making key decisions when he returns, calling it a tribute to the people he works with.
“The hard part is just kind of feeling that connection back to campus,” said Corrigan, who became NC State’s athletic director in 2019 and has a contract through 2027. “When you do come back, you’re in your office and you’ve missed games of different teams, you’ve missed senior days, you’ve missed a lot of things that typically you’re a part of. You’re also doing it for a pretty cool reason.”
Corrigan said he watched at least 12 to 15 football games a week involving teams around the country. He said he’ll often pay extra attention to teams that sparked extra conversation during the selection process to make sure those teams are ranked properly. Former Nevada coach Chris Ault, Washington athletic director Jennifer Cohen and MIami (Ohio) athletic director David Sayler will begin three-year terms on the committee this year.
“All 13 people are all-in,” he said. “It’s a great thing to talk about, a great thing to be involved in. So you want to make sure you show up every week by reviewing games and stats and making sure you’ve got everything that you need to do.”
It was a relatively drama-free selection process with few questioning the final picks.
The selection committee chose SEC champion Georgia, Big Ten champion Michigan, Big 12 runner-up TCU and one-loss Ohio State. Georgia topped Ohio State and TCU defeated Michigan in two classic semifinal games. Top-seeded Georgia crushed TCU in a lopsided title game.
“You feel good about how we do it. It’s a very patient process. It’s not rushed,” Corrigan said. “It’s not elaborate what we do, but it’s very well thought out what we do and how we get there.”
The playoff will expand to 12 teams in 2024 with the top four conference champions earning byes and first-round games being played on campuses.