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Bravo! Well done, College Football Playoff Committee. With a number of members whose terms are soon to expire, the Committee announced a quartet of replacements. Among them, two members with rock-solid Group of Five credentials. Hooray! Though the balance of power is still lopsided in favor the "high resource" conferences, the new additions to the Committee should lend an authoritative voice to evaluating programs from conferences who have yet to benefit from a cable network or corporate benefactor.
Rest assured that the Power Five was not excluded from the appointment process. Rob Mullens, University of Oregon Athletic Director, received a chair, as did former Michigan Wolverine head coach Lloyd Carr. The new appointments are to replace Pat Haden (USC Athletic Director), Tom Osbourne (former Nebraska head coach), Mike Tranghese (former Big East commissioner), and the committee's only G5 representative, Matt Gould (former Air Force coach).
In addition to Mullens and Carr, the Committee appointed the following to fill the vacated seats:
Jeff Bower, former HC of Southern Miss
Named "Coach of the Decade" by C-USA in 2004, Jeff Bower brings decades of Group of Five leadership to the Committee. A former Southern Miss player, Bower still holds several Golden Eagle records at the quarterback position. He retired from coaching in 2007.
As HC of @SouthernMissFB, Jeff Bower won four @CUSAFB championships and was named C-USA "Coach of the Decade" in '04 pic.twitter.com/c3XeGgnifF
— CFBPlayoff (@CFBPlayoff) January 21, 2016
Herb Deromedi, former HC of Central Michigan
Deromedi lead the Chippewas to three MAC championships and is the conference's 2-time Coach of the Year. He served as rom 1978 to 1993, compiling a record of 110–55–10. Deromedi was also CMU's Athletic Director from 1994-2006. Oh yeah, and he also beat Michigan State in 1991 and 1992.
Herb Deromedi spent 38 years at @CMU_Football and retired the winningest coach in @MACSports history. pic.twitter.com/ruEgPH5jRK
— CFBPlayoff (@CFBPlayoff) January 21, 2016
The Committee is not without its character flaws. For example, it's still staggeringly ancient, and the average age of the new appointees is 63.5 years old. But adding more members with head coaching experience is a good move. Most importantly, Bower and Deromedi provides a perspective that may help elevate deserving Group of Five programs rather than bury them at the bottom the Top 25.
Spoke to newly appointed College Football Playoff committee member Jeff Bower. "It's a big job w/ a lot of responsibility. But I'm honored."
— Jason Munz (@munzly) January 21, 2016
Responsibility, indeed. The fortunes of five conferences rests with the ferocity of your influence. Let us hope that the duo of Bower and Deromedi can provide some semblance of fairness and balance to a process that too heavily favors tradition and name recognition.