CFB Playoff Committee: Mike Tranghese, Steve Wieberg, and Tyrone Willingham

This is the year of the playoff. The BCS has died and gone away. Now instead of objective computers mixed with subjective polls, we have moved to a group of people who will subjectively select the four best teams in the country, based on their opinion. It will certainly not end all the debate and bellyaching at the end of the season as coaches and fans state their case for why their team should be included over a different team. Will it be better? We don’t know yet. Let’s take a look at who will be making the decisions.

COMMITTEE MEMEBERS:

Jeff Long – Chairman
Barry Alvarez – AD Wisconsin
Lieutenant General Mike Gould – Former Superintendent Air Force Academy
Pat Haden – AD University of Southern California
Tom Jernstedt- Former NCAA Executive Vice President
Oliver Luck – AD West Virginia
Archie Manning – Legend
Tom Osborne – Also Legend
Dan Radakovich – AD Clemson
Condoleezza Rice – Stanford Professor, Former Secretary of State
Mike Tranghese – Former Big East Commissioner
Steve Weiberg – Former USA Today CFB writer
Tyrone Willingham – Former Head Coach

With the rankings a week away, we’ve got to triple up on committee members so we can get through them all before they start actually doing stuff. This week, we look at Mike Tranghese, Steve Weiberg, and Tyrone Willingham.

Mike Tranghese

Tranghese got his bachelor’s degree in English from St. Michael’s College in 1965 and stayed there to earn his masters degree in education in 1967. He quickly got into athletics as the sports information director for American International College from 1969 to 1972. He moved on to Providence College in 1972 as their sports information director until 1979. From there Tranghese left to become the assistant to the commissioner for the Big East and remained in that position from 1979 to 1981, when he was elevated to associate commissioner. He held that position for 9 years until becoming the commissioner of the Big East. During his time as commissioner, he participated in the launch of the Big East TV Network. He also chaired the Division I-A Commissioners from 1996 to 1998, the Collegiate Commissioners Association from 1998 to 2000, and Division I Men’s Basketball Committee in 2001. His run as commissioner of the Big East ended in 2009. He is now a managing member of MT Consulting. He also served on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee from 1996-2001 and was the lead administrator of the BCS in 2003 and 2004.

Steve Weiberg

Weiberg was an overachiever and began working for the Mexico(Missouri) Ledger in 1976, four years before getting his degree from the University of Missouri in 1980. He stayed with the Ledger for another year before becoming a sports reporter and the Sunday sports editor at the Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader from 1981 to 1982. Weiberg then left to be one of the founding members of USA Today. He joined the startup staff in 1982. He stayed with the paper for 30 years covering college football and basketball as well as NCAA issues. He also covered eight Summer and Winter Olympics as well as three World Series. He covered 18 college football championships and every Final Four from 1983 to 2012. He was also the President of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association in 1996-1997. Weiberg served on the honors courts, also known as the selection committee, of both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. College Sports magazine named him one of the “50 Most Influential People in College Sports” in 1995 and 1996. In 2007 he was named one of the “10 Most Powerful People in College Sports” by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The following year, in 2008, he was inducted as a member of the United States Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame. He has won over two dozen national writing awards- seven from the Football Writers Association, nine from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and 10 from the Associated Press Sports Editors. After 30 years with USA Today, Weiberg now works in the public affairs department of the Kansas City (Missouri) Public Library.

Tyrone Willingham

Willingham was a two-sport athlete at Michigan State University, playing football and baseball from 1972 to 1976. He stayed on at MSU, becoming a graduate assistant in 1977. After that year he moved on to Central Michigan University as an assistant coach from 1978 to 1979. He then went back to his alma mater as an assistant coach from 1980 to 1982. In 1983 Willingham was an assistant coach until 1985. His next stop was as an assistant at Rice from 1986 to 1988. He continued his stretch of coaching as an assistant at Stanford from 1989 to 1991 before heading to the NFL as an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings from 1992 to 1994. In 1995 he got his big break as the head coach at Stanford. While at Stanford, he led the team to four bowl games and won the 1999 Pac-10 conference championship. He was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year in both 1995 and 1996. In 2000 Willingham was named the State Farm Eddie Robinson Coach of Distinction. He coached at Stanford through 2001, leaving for Notre Dame in 2002. He led Notre Dame to two bowl games in his three years as coach of the Irish. In 2002 he was named both the Scripps College Coach of the Year as well as the ESPN/Home Depot Coach of the Year. Also in 2002, he served as the President of the American Football Coaches Association. In 2005 Willingham was named head coach at the University of Washington and coached there through 2008. In 2008, he also served as President of the American Football Coaches Association Board of Trustees. He was named the Black Coaches Association Male Coach of the Year in 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2003. He is now retired, volunteering at the First Tee of Silicon Valley and NCGA Board Youth on Course.

Hot Seat Questions We Would Totally Ask If We Had A Sponsored Hot Seat Segment:
*answers are what we think they would probably say when given the chance

Losing Archie must have been a big blow for you all. I mean, a legend like that just hanging it up before the real work even starts is not that cool. Yes, I guess health issues is a valid reason, but a week before the polls start to come out? That is brutal. Anyway, Mike, this first question is for you. What was it like reigning over a conference that people question the legitimacy of receiving an automatic bid to the BCS every year?

MT: No comment. Well, that’s not true. I just don’t want to really get into it. Granted I got the whole Big East TV thing off the ground, I was also at the helm when people just stopped caring about the Big East altogether.

Next up, Steve. I was reading through your bio and an convinced you are the most qualified person to sit on this committee. 30 years at one paper? That is truly amazing. You were all into start-ups before start-ups were like, a thing. How did it feel to get that thing off the ground?

SW: It was incredible. I was basically the genesis for all start-ups. If I went on Shark Tank today, I would get like a gajillion dollars, except it was a paper, so I actually wouldn’t because you know, no one reads the paper anymore. Which is why I work at a library now. Wait, that seems flawed. Anyway, yeah, I covered the best sporting events for 30 years, so get off me.

Now on to you Ty. Why do you think you went from winning Coach of the Year at programs then to be shown the door on more than one occasion? That seems pretty interesting to me.

TW: I honestly have no idea. Maybe I came in with so much energy that I got the guys fired up for a year, then they were just tired? Or maybe I was really just kind of an OK coach so when I got programs to a place where the expectations were higher, they realized they needed someone better? I’m not sure. I’m just hoping this whole playoff thing lasts for more than a couple of years.

Mack Dalton

Worked for the internet in Los Angeles before being lured back to Florida by SEC football and the promise of a bourbon bar. When he's not internetting or watching football, he's probably out giving himself 4-footers on the golf course.