The College Football Playoff system was created collectively by the conference commissioners and university presidents who oversaw the old BCS, not by a single person.

Quick Scoop

  • In June 2012, the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee (made up of university presidents and chancellors) unanimously voted to move from the BCS to a new fourā€‘team playoff model.
  • The conference commissioners (from the major FBS conferences plus Notre Dame) designed and recommended the fourā€‘team, committeeā€‘selected format that became the College Football Playoff starting with the 2014 season.
  • A 13ā€‘member selection committee, rather than polls or computers, was built into the design from the start to choose and seed the playoff teams.
  • Bill Hancock, who had run the BCS, became the first executive director of the College Football Playoff and helped organize and administer the new system once the presidents approved it.

How it came together

  • On June 20, 2012, FBS commissioners agreed to recommend a fourā€‘team, seeded playoff with a selection committee, to begin in 2014 and run for 12 seasons.
  • On June 26, 2012, the presidential oversight group in Washington, D.C., unanimously approved that model, including rotating semifinal bowl sites and a separate national championship game.
  • The first College Football Playoff was played after the 2014 season, with Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, and Ohio State as the inaugural four teams.

In short, no single person ā€œmadeā€ the College Football Playoff. It was a collaborative creation of FBS commissioners and university presidents transitioning from the BCS to a more structured postseason format.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.