Former Kansas City Chiefs and Pro Football Hall of Famer offensive lineman Will Shields, who also won the Outland Trophy while in Nebraska, and Virginia Union athletic director Joe Taylor, one of the winning coaches in HBCU history, headliner of five new College Football Playoff selection committee members announced Tuesday.
Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart, NC state athletics director Boo Corrigan, and Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte, along with Shields and Taylor, will begin their three-year terms on the 13-man committee this spring.
They replace Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, former coach Ken Hatfield, former USC All-American Ronnie Lott, Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury, and Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, whose terms have passed.
“Mitch, Boo, Chris, Will and Joe will continue the integrity that has been the commission’s hallmark throughout our seven seasons,” said CFP Director Bill Hancock in a prepared statement. “Their knowledge, experience and character, along with their love for the sport of college football, will make the transition seamless.”
The CFP management committee, which consists of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, also extended Iowa athletic director Gary Barta’s term as chairman of the selection committee for a second season. Barta, who has been Iowa AD since 2006, joined the committee in January 2019 and was named chairman a year later.
“We are pleased that Gary is returning as chairman,” said Hancock. “He was a valuable leader as the committee has had a unique and challenging year. We look forward to working with the other 12 members in what we hope will be a more traditional season in 2021.”
A former consensus All-America security guard in Nebraska, Shields played for the Cornhuskers from 1989 to ’92 and is one of only 16 players in the school’s history whose jersey has been retired. In 2011 Shields was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
A third-round choice of the Chiefs in the 1993 NFL draft, he never missed a game in 14 seasons, starting 231 consecutive games with the right guard and earning a team record of 12 Pro Bowl appearances from 1995 to 2000. He was. inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
Taylor, who has been with Virginia Union since 2013, had a 41-year career in coaching, including 30 as a head coach. During its tenure in Richmond, the school has won 15 division, conference and regional championships.
As a head coach, Taylor’s teams won five Black College national championships, 10 conference titles, and 10 playoff appearances. Taylor posted a lifelong win-loss record of 233-96-4 and is ranked third in career wins in HBCU history. Taylor was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019 and into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2020. He was also president of the American Football Coaches Association.
Barnhart, who has been Kentucky’s athletics director since 2002, is the SEC’s oldest athletics director and was named chairman of the SEC’s athletics directors in 2017. He also served on the NCAA Division I basketball and baseball committees.
Corrigan, who worked as an athletics director at Army for eight years, has held the same position at NC State since April 2019. He was named Athletic Director of the Year 2017 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. While at West Point, Army won 20 Patriot League regular season or tournament championships and sent 14 teams to the NCAA postseason.
Del Conte was hired as Texas athletic director in December 2017 after making a name for himself during his eight-year tenure as AD at TCU, where he oversaw the school’s entry into the Big 12 Conference. He was also athletic director at Rice from 2006 to 2009.