Report: Big 12 recommends Utah AD Mark Harlan to replace Mack Rhoades on 2025 College Football Playoff committee

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After College Football Playoff committee chairman and Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades took a leave of absence for “personal reasons,” the CFP selection committee has an open slot to fill with less than a month to go until the final selection show.

According to ESPN, Baylor “received allegations involving Rhoades on Monday.”

With Rhoades’ sudden absence from the CFP committee, a replacement has to be found quickly with a new set of rankings coming out Tuesday.

Since Rhoades was an athletic director of a Big 12 school, the conference gets to recommend a replacement.

The Big 12 today recommended Utah athletic director Mark Harlan to fill an empty seat — there are two empty spots on the 13-member committee, one vacated by Rhoades and one vacated by former NFL player Randall McDaniel — according to a report by ESPN’s Heather Dinich.

Harlan previously served as a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee in 2023. That year was perhaps the most controversial College Football Playoff field ever, as the committee put 12-1 SEC champion Alabama in the four-team field over undefeated ACC championship Florida State, which lost starting quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending injury in the second-to-last regular-season game.

Harlan is one of just two current Big 12 athletic directors to serve on the CFP committee before, making him an easy recommendation to join on such short notice.

Though Harlan will be replacing Rhoades, he won’t be the CFP committee chair — that will be Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek, according to Dinich.

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