The Selection Committee is the group that decides the field of teams in the NCAA Tournament. The Committee is a collection of experts in college football who use their collective knowledge to rank the teams and choose which ones make it to the Final Four. The Selection Committee is made up of national leaders from government, business, entertainment and the nonprofit/foundation community. The Committee also includes athletics directors, who have some of the deepest knowledge of college football. The Selection Committee also has a primary and secondary monitor for each conference throughout the season, monitoring injuries, suspensions and other factors that could impact a school’s performance.
While the Selection Committee is composed of experts, it isn’t immune to biases and cognitive limitations. The Selection Committee must be aware of the potential for these biases and take steps to minimize them.
The Selection Committee should start by establishing clear expectations for members, including a confidentiality policy and a process for reporting conflicts of interest. The committee should then disclose these conflicts of interest before reviewing and evaluating nominations. This will allow the committee to manage and resolve them before they impact the committee’s deliberations.
Ensure that all committee members are willing and able to participate in the process. Having a good mix of perspectives on the committee is important, and research shows that implicit bias can be mitigated when all committee members are active participants in the decision-making process.
Consider rotating the chair of the Selection Committee annually. This allows for continuity, information transfer and institutional memory to be maintained from year to year. It will also reduce the risk of someone having a “bad year” and making the Selection Committee look bad in subsequent years.
Use a private evaluation and ranking process to prevent social loafing and to avoid letting one person dominate the discussion. It is also helpful to utilize random ordering when evaluating and discussing nominees to prevent presentation bias. Presentation bias occurs when a candidate’s school is evaluated or discussed early on in the process and then not given adequate consideration later on as other schools get to work.
During the deliberation process, it is important that the Selection Committee members listen to each other and take the time to discuss all of the available data and criteria. This is especially true when a member is not in agreement with the majority of the committee.
The Selection Committee must weigh the merits of each team in the most objective way possible. They must consider the overall strength of each team, including head-to-head competition and a team’s record against common opponents. In addition, the Selection Committee should take into account a school’s history of success in previous tournaments and its ability to handle the pressure of competing for a national championship. If all of these factors are taken into account, the Selection Committee will make an informed decision that best serves the interests of college football fans.