Betting HubSharp Action
Barstool BushChronicling the Barstool Universe

Doug Gillin joins the CFP selection committee

By JR·2 min read
Doug Gillin joins the CFP selection committee

TLDR: Appalachian State athletic director Doug Gillin is the newest voice on the panel that decides who gets into the College Football Playoff.

App State

The CFP Management Committee made it official on August 4: Doug Gillin, the athletic director at App State, is now on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. It's not a flashy job most fans think about until Selection Sunday, but it's one of the most powerful rooms in the sport, the group that ranks the top 25 teams every week in the fall and ultimately decides which 12 programs make the field.

CFP
CFP
@CFBPlayoff

NEWS: The CFP Management Committee has appointed Doug Gillin, athletics director at @appstate, to the CFP Selection Committee. Read more » t.co/SemDrsIzCr #CFP 🏈🏆

Gillin fills the seat vacated by Bryan Maggard, who left his post as Louisiana's athletic director to become deputy athletic director and chief operating officer at Missouri. His term runs 3 seasons, covering the 2026, 2027 and 2028 playoffs, so he'll have a hand in ranking teams through at least 3 full cycles of the expanded 12-team format.

Gillin isn't a random hire. He's entering his 12th year running App State athletics, a stretch that's seen the Mountaineers rack up multiple conference championships and crack the top 25 in the final CFP rankings back in 2019. He was also named one of 4 national Under Armour Athletics Directors of the Year in 2019-20, and he's already got committee-room experience from a stint on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee from 2020-23.

Adding a Group of 5 voice matters more now than it used to. With the playoff expanded to 12 teams and access for smaller conferences a constant flashpoint, having someone who's lived the App State side of the sport in the room changes the conversation when it's time to argue seeding, at-large bids and who's got the resume to crack the field.

The committee meets in person starting in early November and puts out a fresh top 25 every week from there until the bracket is finalized. Betting markets, coaches and fanbases will all be parsing those rankings the second they drop, and now there's a new name attached to how they get built.

More Stories