A Selection Committee is an advisory body appointed by the Minister to make recommendations to him/her on specific, key public appointments. This process is designed to help ensure that the best people are recruited for these posts. Pre-appointment hearings enable select committees to assess candidates more thoroughly before making their final recommendation to the Minister, helping ensure that the highest quality candidate is appointed for the post.
Each selection committee member should have an equal voice and opportunity to participate in discussions, evaluations and rankings of the teams under consideration. The chair should moderate the discussion in such a way that no one subgroup or individual is unfairly influenced by another, and all members have sufficient time to make a decision.
Selection committees should consider diversity to avoid implicit bias, including gender, employment sector, and (where possible) geographical location. Diverse committees may also offer access to a broader set of networks from which to cultivate nominations and suggestions.
Committee size should be carefully considered to ensure that there is a balance of views and geographic representation, while allowing for active, engaged deliberation. The number of committee members should be limited to 13; experience shows that this is the optimal size for a selection committee.
All members should be required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest should be disclosed prior to the review and assessment of nominations. Conflicts should be reviewed and, where necessary, resolved by the committee. In the event of a significant conflict, the chair should be notified and the committee should consider whether to resolve the conflict or to recuse the member in question.
The members of a Selection Committee should be experts in college football, and have the knowledge and expertise to evaluate the competition fairly. This is why athletics directors are included in the committee, but recused from voting and discussing their own schools. The committee should be encouraged to watch as many games as possible, and to rely on a variety of sources for information.
The Selection Committee will meet several times during the course of the year, from early November to Selection Sunday, to conduct a thorough evaluation of college football’s top teams. Each meeting includes a “listing step” where the committee lists the teams they are considering, and a “ranking step” where the committee members individually rank each team in order of their preference.
The results of the ranking steps are compiled and analyzed to produce the final rankings, which will then be used to create the playoff bracket. The Selection Committee is independent of the CFP’s executive director and staff, and operates according to the objectives established by the board of managers and management committee.