Gillin Named to CFP Committee

[AppStFan1]

APP STATE'S GILLIN APPOINTED TO CFP SELECTION COMMITTEE

NEW ORLEANS — The CFP Management Committee has appointed current App State athletic director Doug Gillin to the CFP Selection Committee, College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark announced on Tuesday.

Gillin will replace Dr. Bryan Maggard, who recently became the deputy athletic director/COO at Missouri after serving as Louisiana’s athletic director. He will serve a three-year term, spanning the 2026, 2027 and 2028 football seasons.

“We are pleased to welcome Doug Gillin to the selection committee,” said Clark. “He is a highly respected leader who brings tremendous experience, sound judgment and a deep commitment to college football and student-athletes. We look forward to the contributions he will make as a member of the committee.”

Entering his 12th year in Boone, Gillin has overseen the rise of App State Athletics as a nationally recognized program at the highest level of college sports, highlighted by App State football’s multiple conference championships and a Top 25 final CFP ranking in 2019 since ascending to the FBS level.

Gillin was hired as the school’s Director of Athletics in February 2015, during the early stages of App State’s transition from the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the Sun Belt Conference at the FBS level. He was named one of four national Under Armour Athletics Directors of the Year in 2019-20.

App State was the first college football program to win bowl games in each of its first six eligible FBS seasons (2015-20), and the program’s 98 wins since 2015 rank in the Top 15 nationally. The Mountaineers won four-straight Sun Belt championships from 2016-19, and the 2019 squad that went 13-1 became the first Sun Belt or North Carolina FBS school to win 13 games. Between winning Sun Belt division titles in 2021 and 2023, the Mountaineers followed a 17-14 win at No. 6 Texas A&M in 2022 by hosting ESPN's College GameDay for the first time.

Gillin, who served on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee from 2020-23, was previously the deputy director of athletics at Missouri from 2012-15. He also spent time early in his career on college campuses at Lehigh, New Mexico, and Syracuse, while holding senior leadership positions at ISP Sports/IMG College from 2002-12.

The Binghamton, N.Y., native was a four-year letterman in ice hockey at SUNY Cortland. He graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1991 with a B.S. in physical education and earned a master’s degree in physical education from Ohio University.

The CFP Selection Committee is responsible for ranking the 25 teams in the playoff and assigning the top 12 participants to the playoff bracket. 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.

[ASUFan4863]

Well, so much for any discourse over Gillin

[AppWyo]

Well, we have a way in now, we just need to win to take advantage of it.

[AppStFan1]

Press release from CFP today and since Gillin is on it I thought I would copy and paste from website to post here:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SELECTION COMMITTEE PREPARES FOR 2026-27 SEASON
The College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee met this week in preparation for the upcoming season.

The CFP Selection Committee is responsible for ranking the top 25 teams for inclusion in the Playoff and then assigning the teams to the Playoff bracket. The selection 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.

"It is always valuable to bring the committee together before the season begins to welcome our new members and review our procedures in detail," said Hunter Yurachek, Director of Athletics at the University of Arkansas and returning chair of the CFP Selection Committee. "The CFP Selection Committee has a strong foundation built on a proven process, and our members are looking forward to the work ahead as we evaluate teams throughout the season and produce the weekly rankings that help shape the College Football Playoff."

The format of the 2026-27 CFP is built on a 12-team bracket. Beginning this year, the 12 participating schools are the conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference or Sun Belt Conference, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The University of Notre Dame will be included in the Playoff if it is ranked among the top 12 teams in the final CFP rankings.

With the removal of conference historic bowl tie-ins from the bowl assignment process beginning this season, the CFP Management Committee approved a format in which the top three seeds, in rank order, select their bowl path in the Playoff.

The selection committee reviewed the schedule for its weekly ranking announcements, went over its protocol, analytic and video tools, and finalized its list of members who will be recused from voting or discussions regarding selected teams.

The CFP Selection Committee will announce its first of six rankings on November 3. The selection committee members will convene in person on Mondays and Tuesdays, revealing their rankings each week on ESPN.

The final selection committee rankings of the 2026 season will be released on Selection Day, Sunday, December 6. At that time, the selection committee will also announce the 12-team Playoff bracket pairings and game sites.

Below is a complete schedule for the selection committee to announce its rankings on ESPN:

Date Time
Tuesday, November 3
7-8 p.m. ET

Tuesday, November 10
9-9:30 p.m. ET

Tuesday, November 17
9-9:30 p.m. ET

Tuesday, November 24
7:30-8 p.m. ET

Tuesday, December 1
7-7:30 p.m. ET

Sunday, December 6
Noon - 3 p.m. ET

The selection committee recusal policy remains consistent with last year, stating that:

If a selection committee member or an immediate family member (e.g., spouse, sibling or child) (a) is compensated by a school, (b) provides professional services for a school or (c) is on the coaching staff or administrative staff at a school or is a football student-athlete at a school, that member will be recused. Such compensation shall include not only direct employment, but also current paid consulting arrangements, deferred compensation (e.g., contract payments continuing after employment has ended) or other benefits.

A fully recused member shall not participate in any vote concerning the team, nor shall the member be present in the room during any deliberations related to the team’s ranking or placement into the postseason bracket.

A member shall be deemed partially recused if the member has a secondary relationship with the institution (e.g., an immediate family member employed by the institution but outside of the football program or senior administration).

A partially recused member may remain present and participate in discussions related to the team but shall not be allowed to participate in votes involving the team in question.

The executive director shall have the authority to impose a partial recusal if he or she determines that a non-compensated institutional affiliation (e.g., alumna/alumnus, former player, former administrator or former coach) exists that could reasonably be perceived to compromise the impartiality of the selection committee member in question.

Recusals for the 2026-27 college football season are as follows:
School Selection Committee Member
Appalachian State Doug Gillin
Arizona Mark Harlan (partial)
Arizona State Randall McDaniel (partial)
Arkansas Hunter Yurachek
Auburn Gus Malzahn (partial)
California Jeff Tedford (partial)
Fresno State Jeff Tedford (partial)
Michigan State Mark Dantonio
Middle Tennessee State Chris Massaro
Nebraska Troy Dannen
Ole Miss Wesley Walls (partial)
Oregon State Mike Riley
SMU Gus Malzahn (partial)
Stanford Ivan Maisel
Utah Mark Harlan
Virginia Carla Williams

Selection committee members for the 2026 regular season include Troy Dannen (athletics director, University of Nebraska), Mark Dantonio (former head coach, University of Cincinnati and Michigan State University), Doug Gillin (athletics director, Appalachian State University), Mark Harlan (athletics director, University of Utah), Ivan Maisel (former sportswriter, The Atlanta Constitution, Sports Illustrated, the Dallas Morning News, Newsday, ESPN and On3), Gus Malzahn, former head coach, Arkansas State, Auburn and University of Central Florida), Chris Massaro (athletics director, Middle Tennessee State) Randall McDaniel (former All-American offensive lineman, Arizona State University), Mike Riley (former head coach, Oregon State University and University of Nebraska), Jeff Tedford (former head coach, California and Fresno State), Wesley Walls (former All-American tight end, Ole Miss), Carla Williams (athletics director, University of Virginia), and Hunter Yurachek (athletics director, University of Arkansas).

[Bootsy]

Gillian being placed on the CFP looks an awful lot like a cherry on top of a sh_t sundae.

[appdaze]

Not much help for our position. We'd have to run the table and I don't see us doing that.

This is a nice boost for Gillin's connections.


As always, just win the conference, everything else is just noise.

[AppSt91]

Not much help for our position. We'd have to run the table and I don't see us doing that.

This is a nice boost for Gillin's connections.


As always, just win the conference, everything else is just noise.

Hopefully he gets hired away.

[appst1992]

I honestly don't understand the disdain for Gillin.

[AppWyo]

I honestly don't understand the disdain for Gillin.

Most people dislike people who have to make hard decisions when they do not agree with those decisions. However, some people always believe someone else is better than who they have.

[ASUFan4863]

I honestly don't understand the disdain for Gillin.

I think the vast majority of people still have a positive view of Gillin, as they should. However, it would be naive to not place any blame on him for some of the performance (football mainly) and financial (concerts, revenue generation, debt) issues.

The department and perception is largely measured by football success. The football program was a top 25 program in 2019. We are now significantly worse than that. While there are reasons to be optimistic again, the drop went way too far and some of the blame has to fall on Gillin.

[T-Dog]

Well, we have a way in now, we just need to win to take advantage of it.

Believe committee members have to leave the room if their school is being discussed.

[BallantyneApp]

I honestly don't understand the disdain for Gillin.

I don’t think there’s any real good reason to have disdain for Gillin.

He’s been very good overall and elevated the programs and was an upgrade over our last AD. I think like restaurants, the vast majority of CEOs have an expiration date and after a period of time things get stale and you can benefit from new blood and new ideas.

I wouldn’t be upset if gillin stayed and finished out his career and stewarded the programs as he has done in the past, but I also wouldn’t be upset if he got hired away and we brought in someone with fresh ideas on how to succeed in the new age either.

[Bigdaddyg1]

Any disdain comes from the same unreasonable and delusional segment of App fans. It’s always the same ones who scream for firings, expect scheduling that’s nearly impossible to achieve and can’t accept losing in any way. If someone was to go through nearly any football thread on this board over the past several years there would be common denominators. A few years ago the word “Brand” was bounced around by members of the unreasonable club- you never see it mentioned anymore. To expect App to rise back up to a top 25 status in the current environment is ok but to scream for annual firings when it doesn’t happen is stupid.

[AppStFan1]

I honestly don't understand the disdain for Gillin.

I don’t think there’s any real good reason to have disdain for Gillin.

He’s been very good overall and elevated the programs and was an upgrade over our last AD. I think like restaurants, the vast majority of CEOs have an expiration date and after a period of time things get stale and you can benefit from new blood and new ideas.

I wouldn’t be upset if gillin stayed and finished out his career and stewarded the programs as he has done in the past, but I also wouldn’t be upset if he got hired away and we brought in someone with fresh ideas on how to succeed in the new age either.

Your last statement is the reason I would be very fine with a change. Gillin has not been bad by any means but I do think we need some fresh ideas on fundraising and how to handle this era. I think he would be a good hire for a P4 program.

[Capt. Ed]

Gillin has been damn good for App State. Look at his overall results over the last 11 years.

I'm more concerned about Coach Loggains. I want to see improvement in football fundamental's. Ball handling, tackling and blocking, and catching. His prior teams needed lots of improvement. Whether we win the conference or not, if we put a fundamently sound team on the field, I'll be happy.

If not, time for Loggains to go. How Gillins handles the dismissal and the job he does hiring a successful replacement will tell us whether it's time for him to go.

[BambooRdApp]

If DLo is not successful, you think Gillin gets a 3rd time to hire another football coach? Football is the money maker for most universities for programs that are successful. Not sure many schools would give an AD a third time in the football decision making process.

[AppStFan1]

If DLo is not successful, you think Gillin gets a 3rd time to hire another football coach? Football is the money maker for most universities for programs that are successful. Not sure many schools would give an AD a third time in the football decision making process.

I agree with you that maybe he should go if that happens but the question is will he? I heard Gillin and Ricks are in business together and if true then you have to think Ricks will look out for him.

[Seattleapp]

I honestly don't understand the disdain for Gillin.

I think the vast majority of people still have a positive view of Gillin, as they should. However, it would be naive to not place any blame on him for some of the performance (football mainly) and financial (concerts, revenue generation, debt) issues.

The department and perception is largely measured by football success. The football program was a top 25 program in 2019. We are now significantly worse than that. While there are reasons to be optimistic again, the drop went way too far and some of the blame has to fall on Gillin.

And the current hire still needs to prove himself. You left that last sentence out

[Bootsy]

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Mine is based on observations of actions, decisions and behaviors. For the people who love him, how much do you know about what’s been happening at Jack Branch over the past year? How much money is being lost at concerts that should never have been be produced? And then there’s the Bigfoots…

There was a time when Gillin was good for App State, but that time has come and gone. But based on his dealings with BOT members, I suspect we’ll never be rid of him.

[AppStFan1]

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Mine is based on observations of actions, decisions and behaviors. For the people who love him, how much do you know about what’s been happening at Jack Branch over the past year? How much money is being lost at concerts that should never have been be produced? And then there’s the Bigfoots…

There was a time when Gillin was good for App State, but that time has come and gone. But based on his dealings with BOT members, I suspect we’ll never be rid of him.

I do find the rumors of dealings with Ricks something that should not be happening. The money being lost at concerts has me wondering if we should be worried about something suspicious or just ineptitude. Like I said above I would not be upset at Gillin leaving. I think we need fresh ideas for sure. I wish the media would ask about Gillin's dealings with BOT members.