WSU Athletic Director Pat Chun will give the Cougs a seat at the 2025 College Football Playoff Selection Committee table, joining his boss, WSU President Kirk Schulz, in the CFP brass. Schulz is a part of the CFP Board of Managers.
The 2024–25 season is the first year that 12 teams will be selected for the CFP. The new format includes home playoff games in the first round followed by a rotating round of bowl games for the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship.
The CFP Committee will compile their typical top 25 rankings with the 12-team playoff field including the six highest-ranked conference champions with the top four Conference Champions receiving a first-round bye. The six highest-ranked remaining teams will complete the 12-team format.
Schulz serves as the Pac-12 Conference’s representative on the CFP Board of Managers.
With the collapse of the Pac-12, the board voted on a motion in January that would alter the CFP to admit the top five Conference Champions rather than the top six. A departure from the agreed upon six Conference Champions and six at-large bids format, replaced by five Conference Champions and seven at-large bids.
The 6+6 format was intended to include the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 Conference Champions along with the best Group of Five Conference Champion. The 5+7 format would remove the Pac-12(2) as a “power conference” in the context of the CFP.
WSU or Oregon State may not even be admitted to the College Football Playoff, regardless of the quality of season either has. The CFP Committee has not made an official decision on the matter.
“So as I think President Schulz has been very clear, we’re committed – we are a Power Five school. Our performance indicates that we’re a Power Five school,” Chun said to the Spokesman-Review. “We’re going to do our best to continue to compete at that level, and that’s really our goal going forward.”
Any alterations to the CFP format need to be unanimous per the CFP rules effective through 2026. Schulz, as the Pac-12 Conference’s representative holds what is essentially a veto vote, according to Yahoo Sports.
Schulz proposed that the Pac-12 be guaranteed voting rights and CFP distribution money beyond 2025. The other university presidents on the committee have resisted his efforts, but with the need for a unanimous vote, the committee remains at a stalemate, according to Yahoo Sports.
Chun joins Randall McDaniel, former Arizona State All-American defensive lineman,Gary Pinkel, former Toledo and Missouri head football coach, Baylor Athletic Director Mack Rhodes, Virginia Athletic Director Carla Williams and Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek as the new member of CFP Selection Committee.
The CFP management committee brought Will Shields, a former All-American lineman at Nebraska, back to the selection committee for an additional year.
They also announced Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel will serve as CFP Selection Committee chair.
“The additions of Pat, Randall, Gary, Mack, Carla and Hunter will bring some great new voices to the selection committee as we enter our 11th season,” CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said. “Their knowledge, passion and character, along with their understanding of college football, will allow them to make the transition seamlessly with the returning members. And it is great to have Will Shields returning. His understanding and wisdom will be a real benefit.”
Chun is the first Asian-American Athletic Director of a Power Five school and in 2019 became the first Under Armor Athletic Director of the Year in WSU history.
In his five years at the helm, Chun has seen six programs win Pac-12 Conference Championships and several more participate in their respective NCAA Championships.
He oversaw the hiring of basketball coaches Kamie Ethridge (women’s) and Kyle Smith (men’s), football coach Jake Dickert, tennis coach Raquel Atawo, women’s golf coach Sofie Aagaard and volleyball coach Korey Schroeder.
Chun has been outspoken about the recent changes in college athletics and their impact on WSU, including conference realignment, Name Image and Likeness and the transfer portal.
“College athletics is broken beyond repair,” Chun said in a Seattle Times interview.
Chun said the Pac-12’s collapse was a result of years of poor leadership. He also said that NIL rules have put WSU behind the rest of the country.
WSU and OSU are allowed to remain a two-school conference for two years per NCAA rules. This will grant WSU the opportunity to best position itself as college football changes in the near future, Chun said.
“The best part of where realignment sits is that this sport is going to change significantly because of the 12-team playoff,” Chun said in the Seattle Times in November. “Now it’s going to open up a little bit, and hopefully we can put ourselves in a position — that’ll be the goal. And the nice thing is we got a goal.”
