College Football Playoff Adds 100-Win Head Coach to Selection Committee

Roughly five months separate the end of March from the opening weekend of the 2026 college football season.

The 2026 college football season marks the thirteenth season of the College Football Playoff era and the third with a 12-team playoff. The field for each College Football Playoff is selected by a 12-person committee consisting of former coaches, players and sitting administrators, each of whom serves a three-year term.

Three members from the 2025-2026 College Football Playoff selection committee are at the end of their terms: former Nevada athletics director and head football coach Chris Ault, current Miami (OH) athletics director David Sayler and former athletics director Jeff Long.

Steve Samra of On3 reported on Monday that the College Football Playoff selection committee has made its new additions to its 2026-2027 panel. The most notable addition to this group is Gus Malzahn, who spent 13 years in the FBS ranks as a head coach.

Coaching career

Malzahn spent the first 15 years of his football coaching journey at a trio of high schools in Arkansas, serving as a head coach for 14 of those seasons. He worked his way up the college coaching ladder as an offensive coordinator with stops at Arkansas, Tulsa and Auburn from 2006 to 2011. During that run as an offensive coordinator, Malzahn coached a Heisman Trophy finalist at Arkansas in Darren McFadden and a Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn in Cam Newton.

Florida State offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn looks on before a game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Arkansas State was the first college football program to hire Malzahn as its head coach in 2012. His 9-3 overall record, coupled with Auburn's dismal 3-9 mark, was enough reason for the Tigers to bring him back as their head coach for the following season.

Auburn reached the BCS National Championship game at the conclusion of the 2013 season, only suffering losses at LSU and to Florida State in the national championship. The Tigers compiled a 68-35 record in eight seasons under Malzahn's leadership, appeared in two SEC Championship games and finished every season with a winning record.

UCF hired Malzahn as its head coach in the 2021 offseason. The Knights were 18-9 overall in their first two years under Malzahn, appearing in an AAC Championship game in 2022. The final two years of Malzahn's tenure at UCF were not successful ones; the Knights faced stiffer competition as they transitioned into the Big 12, posting a 6-7 record in 2023 and a 4-8 record in 2024.

Other additions to the College Football Playoff selection committee

Louisiana athletics director Bryan Maggard is one of the other two additions to the committee. Maggard has held his current post with the Ragin' Cajuns since 2017, a stretch that followed a 22-year stint at Missouri as the Tigers' executive associate athletics director.

The committee's third addition is another former head coach, Jeff Tedford. From 2002 to 2011, Tedford led California to an 82-57 overall record. Tedford served as Fresno State's head coach in a pair of stints, guiding the Bulldogs to a 45-22 record with three 10-win seasons between the stints.