Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek nominated to be College Football Playoff chairman | Report

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

University of Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek has been nominated to become the new College Football Playoff committee chair, according to multiple reports from ESPN and Yahoo Sports.

The previous chair, Baylor athletic director Mark Rhoades, stepped away due to personal reasons. Baylor told ESPN that the university received allegations involving Rhoades on Monday, Nov. 10.

According to the CFP website, “The chair of the selection committee leads the selection committee’s deliberations and cultivates an environment for selection committee members to cooperatively evaluate teams and create rankings, with each member voicing individual opinions. The chair facilitates meetings, helps set the selection committee’s agenda and shares spokesperson duties with the College Football Playoff Executive Director. The chair — and the selection committee members — are not involved in the administration of the playoff and the games. The selection committee’s sole responsibility is ranking the teams and establishing the playoff bracket”.

Yurachek is in his seventh year as the Razorbacks athletic director and was already a member of the CFP committee this fall. He is in the midst of a coaching search with Arkansas after firing Sam Pittman in late September. This will be the second time Yurachek has hired a football coach during his tenure in Fayetteville.

Before coming to Arkansas, Yurachek served as Director of Athletics at Coastal Carolina University (2010-15) and the University of Houston (2015-17). He also held various athletics administration leadership positions at Akron, Virginia, Western Carolina, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.

The Razorbacks are in the midst of its most successful era in its history with three consecutive top-15 Directors’ Cup finishes. Before that time, Arkansas earned only one top-15 finish in the first 24 years of the competition. 

However, the football program has been a roller-coaster under Yurachek’s watch with a record of 34-51. That mark includes two seasons with Chad Morris has head coach. Yurachek was hired days before Morris and did not play a big role in that coaching search.

However, the basketball and baseball programs have been two of the best across the SEC. Yurachek oversaw the hiring of men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman in 2019, a move that paid off with consecutive NCAA Tournament runs, including back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight.

He also hired John Calipari in 2024 after Musselman left for Southern California. In his first season, Calipari led Arkansas to the Sweet 16 and has a consensus top-15 team ready to begin the upcoming campaign in early November.

Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@gannett.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek nominated to be CFP chairman | report

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos