The College Football Playoff, in "obvious coordination" with the Pac-12 fining USC AD Pat Haden $25,000 for confronting a referee during Saturday's game against Stanford, yesterday announced that Haden "would be allowed to remain on the football selection committee," according to Chris Dufresne of the L.A. TIMES. CFP Exec Dir Bill Hancock in a statement said, "Emotional outbursts at games are not a matter for the playoff committee to deal with. This does not affect Pat Haden's capability as a committee member. We recognize that athletic directors cannot be dispassionate about their own teams, and that's why we have the recusal policy." Dufresne notes the policy "prohibits Haden from being in the room when USC is discussed by the other members of the 13-member committee." While Haden "needed to be reprimanded," his actions "did not warrant a knee-jerk dismissal" from the CFP committee. The mistake "was allowing active athletic directors to be on the panel in the first place" (L.A. TIMES, 9/9). Haden said that he would "personally pay his $25,000 fine" levied by the Pac-12 for engaging with the officials on Saturday. He tweeted yesterday, "I accept the @pac12 reprimand. I plan to pay the fine personally. To honor my 5-yr-old grandson who has autism, I have a special request. ... I will request the @pac12 forward the fine to Children's Hospital Los Angeles for autism research" (L.A. TIMES, 9/9).
