College Football Playoff selection committee member Jennifer Cohen is expected to step down from her role with the group because of obligations in her new job as USC’s athletic director, according to sources.
Cohen, who was previously Washington’s athletic director, was entering her first season with the group tasked with determining the top four teams in the field. The CFP is expected to name a replacement for her so there will still be 13 committee members this fall. Cohen was announced as USC’s new athletic director in late August.
Typically, committee members serve three-year terms, and each Power 5 conference has a sitting athletic director on the committee. Cohen had been the Pac-12’s representative, along with the ACC’s Boo Corrigan (NC State), the Big Ten’s Warde Manuel (Michigan), the SEC’s Mitch Barnhart (Kentucky), and the Big 12’s Gene Taylor (Kansas State). Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk is entering his second year with the group.
Without Cohen, there would be six sitting athletic directors on the committee. Cohen was one of three new committee members this fall, along with former Nevada Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault, and Miami (Ohio) athletic director David Sayler.
It’s not the first time the CFP has had a committee member step down for various reasons. Past members with tenures that were cut short include former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, general Ray Odierno, Archie Manning, Oliver Luck, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, former coach R.C. Slocum and former USC athletic director Pat Haden.
Cohen was not immediately available for comment.