By BILL WAGNERCAPITAL GAZETTE |JAN 25, 2022 AT 4:39 PM
Longtime Naval Academy athletic director Chet Gladchuk has been named to the College Football Playoff selection committee while N.C. State athletic director Eugene “Boo” Corrigan, who has deep Baltimore ties, has been appointed as selection committee chair, it was announced Tuesday.
Corrigan, who founded the Elkridge-based sports marketing business Corrigan Sports Enterprises before serving as an associate athletic director at Navy under Gladchuk, replaces University of Iowa athletic director Gary Barta in that role.ADVERTISING
The College Football Playoff selection committee is responsible for selecting the top four teams in the playoff and assigning them to semifinal games, as well as ranking the other top 25 teams, according to its website. The committee meets in-person beginning late in the college football season and produces a ranking of the top 25 teams each week leading up to its final selections.
“I am extremely honored to be included with such a distinguished group and given such a high level of responsibility,” said Gladchuk, who has been the Navy athletic director since August 2001. “I’m looking forward to serving. It’s going to be time consuming, it’s going to be challenging, but it’s going to be incredibly rewarding to be involved with such an important task.
“I’m very pleased to represent the United States Naval Academy at such a high level of collegiate involvement.”
Gladchuk said all the new committee members participated in “an indoctrination” meeting on Monday but noted that they will not learn specifics about their assignments and responsibilities until March.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Boo Corrigan, who was a colleague and remains a good friend,” Gladchuk said. “To be able to work with Boo toward the betterment of college football is a real treat and honor.”
Gladchuk has long closely followed the broad landscape of college football as Boston College, Houston and Navy all have Football Bowl Subdivision programs. He focused more closely on the respective conferences while at each of those schools, but now must take a national perspective.
“It’s just a broader aperture for me. I’ve always studied our conference in great depth and analyzed all the teams,” he said. “It’s nothing new to me to dial down on the details of analyzing college football. I’ve been doing it for 40 years. I’ll just take it to a higher level for the good of the game.”
Corrigan served as athletic director at Army West Point from 2011 through 2019 before being hired to replace Debbie Yow at N.C. State. He has also served stints as associate athletic director at Notre Dame and Duke.
“We are pleased that Boo will serve as chair,” Bill Hancock, executive chair of the College Football Playoff, said in a news release. “He was an important member of the committee last year, and in this new role he will serve as a great manager inside the room and a wonderful spokesperson to the media and fans.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed my first year on the committee,” Corrigan said in a news release. “It was a privilege to serve alongside the other members. I’m honored to be asked to serve as committee chair and look forward to working with an outstanding group of individuals who are deeply committed to college football.”
Barta served as chair for the past two seasons. His term with the College Football Playoff expired this year along with the terms of selection committee members Paola Boivin, Charlie Cobb and Tyrone Willingham.
In addition to Gladchuk, Hancock announced that longtime Ohio University coach Jim Grobe, University of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel and sportswriter Kelly Whiteside were joining the selection committee. Those new members will begin three-year terms starting this spring.
“Chet, Jim, Warde and Kelly will be outstanding additions to the committee as we enter our ninth season,” Hancock said in a news release. “Their expertise, knowledge and integrity, along with their love of college football, will allow them to fit right in with the returning members.”
Bill Wagner has worked for Capital Gazette Newspapers for 30 years. He served as beat writer for Navy athletics and general assignment sports reporter. He is also the sailing editor.