Ohio State AD Gene Smith begins his three-year term on the CFP Selection Committee this month, saying he has a "chance to do something special," according to a Q&A with Dennis Dodd of CBSSPORTS.com. Despite the role, Smith is still "serving as a powerful administrator with oversight over a top five football program." He "replaces Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez as a Big Ten rep," joining former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and Robert Morris President Chris Howard as the "newbies on the committee." Smith also has been a member of the NCAA infractions committee and D-I men's basketball committee. Excerpts of the Q&A are below.
Q: The CFP is a lot of work. What compelled you to want to do this?
Smith: The way the inaugural (CFP) committee was set up -- the guidelines, the procedures -- I think it's marvelous what they've done. I feel comfortable first and foremost going into that system. And the game gave me so much. It all started back in high school with this great game.
Q: Have you solicited any former or current committee members on the time commitments?
Smith: No. We have Big Ten meetings in February. I’m hopeful at that time I can sit down with Barry, learn from him everything about the experience he had. If I didn’t have the basketball committee experience, I might have a different perspective. That was five years of a lot of traveling, watching a lot of games, studying information on teams. I think, if I didn’t have that experience, I’d have more trepidation.
Q: You played in the poll era. You were an administrator in the BCS era and now you’re part of this process. Why is the CFP better, more fair?
Smith: I had great apprehension about the CFP. I was a BCS guy. A lot of it was personal. I had the old traditional thought of the value of bowl games being rewards. Now, I still feel we have too many bowls. That’s been lost to some degree. From a narrow point of view at Ohio State, they benefit from the BCS. We had more appearances (10) than anybody. I went into the CFP with apprehension. After seeing it, how it worked and seeing how committee set up selection process, I’m a fan now. I think it works. I’m concerned about the other bowls. What we do with them and for them?”
Q: Are there too many bowls? The Poinsettia Bowl recently folded. Will the market take care of the glut?
Smith: Over time, yes, because that is a financial issue. Over time, the realities will set in. That was one. I hated to see it go way from the perspective it provided those young men. We need to look at the reality of what we are and where we’re going (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/16).
