Yurachek Appointed to College Football Playoff Selection Committee

Photo Submitted

Hunter Yurachek will serve on the CFP Selection Committee for three seasons.

Hunter Yurachek, the U of A vice chancellor and director of athletics, has been appointed to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee by the CFP Management Committee, CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock announced on Thursday.

Yurachek will serve on the prestigious 13-person selection committee for the next three football seasons, beginning with the expanded 12-team CFP playoff set to debut following the 2024 regular season. Michigan Athletics Director Warde Manuel will serve as selection committee chair for the 2024 season.     

"It is truly an honor that the CFP Management Committee has appointed me to serve on the selection committee, especially at such a transformational time in the history of college football and the playoff," Yurachek said. "As an athletics director at three institutions and the father of three sons who have participated in college football, I am keenly aware of the tremendous passion for college football as well as the opportunities afforded to student-athletes through college football. As we all enter this new era, I look forward to working alongside my fellow selection committee members to continue to foster the growth of this wonderful game."

Yurachek was one of six new members appointed to the CFP Selection Committee. Patrick Chun, athletics director at Washington State; Randall McDaniel, former All-American defensive lineman from Arizona State; Gary Pinkel, longtime head coach at Toledo and Missouri; Mack Rhodes, athletics director at Baylor; and Carla Williams, athletics director at Virginia, were also appointed to serve on the committee beginning in the 2024 season. The new members will begin three-year terms starting this spring. They will replace Mitch Barnhart, Boo Corrigan, Mark Harlan, Gene Taylor and Joe West, whose terms have expired.

"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," 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."

The CFP Selection Committee is responsible for selecting the 12 teams in the playoff and assigning them to the playoff bracket, as well as ranking the other top 25 teams. 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.

Returning members of the CFP Selection Committee include: Chris Ault, longtime head coach and athletics director at the University of Nevada; Chet Gladchuk, athletics director at the U.S. Naval Academy; Jim Grobe, longtime head coach at Ohio University, Wake Forest and Baylor; Manuel; David Sayler, athletics director at Miami University (Ohio); Will Shields, former All-American at Nebraska; and Kelly Whiteside, longtime sportswriter for USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Newsday.

Now in his seventh year at the U of A, Yurachek has firmly positioned the Razorbacks as one of the nation's elite intercollegiate athletics programs. Arkansas is in midst of the most successful era of its program with three consecutive top-15 Directors' Cup finishes, after earning only one top-15 finish in the first 24 years of the competition.

Arkansas has more than made its mark in one the most competitive conferences in the nation, winning 33 Southeastern Conference Championships in the past six years, including 25 conference titles in the past four years alone. Both marks lead all SEC programs and the Razorbacks' 33 titles equal to seven other league programs combined in that same timeframe.

Yurachek has previously served in a number of NCAA and conference leadership roles. Yurachek was named to the NCAA Football Oversight Committee, a role he has held since 2021, after previously serving on the Football Competition Committee. He is the only conference athletics director currently serving on the SEC Executive Committee, which approves the annual operating budget and oversees all financial and fiscal affairs of the conference.

Prior to coming to Arkansas, Yurachek served as director of athletics at both Coastal Carolina University and the University of Houston. Yurachek has also held various athletics administration leadership positions at the University of Akron, University of Virginia, Western Carolina University, Vanderbilt University and Wake Forest University.

Yurachek is the third member of the CFP Selection Committee with U of A ties. Former Director of Athletics Jeff Long was the inaugural chair of the CFP Selection Committee and served on the committee from 2014-17. Former Razorback football student-athlete and head coach Ken Hatfield also served on the CFP Selection Committee from 2018-20.