Meet the College Football Playoff selection committee

Daniel Uthman | USA TODAY Sports

The College Football Playoff formally unveiled its selection committee on Wednesday, four days before the first release of the final BCS standings.

"We wanted people of the highest integrity for this committee, and we got them. Every one of them has vast football knowledge, excellent judgment, dedication and love for this game," said Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff.

"They will no doubt have one of the hardest jobs in sports. But their skills and wide variety of experiences — from coaches and athletes to university leaders and journalists — will ensure that they will be successful. And they are committed to investing the time and effort necessary for this endeavor. We are grateful that they will be serving this terrific game of college football."

USA TODAY Sports scans the backgrounds of the 13 College Football Playoff selection committee members.

Chair: Jeff Long

Director of athletics at the University of Arkansas, Long was a two-sport athlete at Ohio Wesleyan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A 54-year-old native of Kettering, Ohio, Long has been athletics director at Pittsburgh and Eastern Kentucky and served in senior positions at Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Michigan.

Barry Alvarez

Alvarez, 66, is a Pennsylvania native, Nebraska graduate and Wisconsin football coach-turned-athletics director. From 1990 to 2006 he led Wisconsin to 11 bowls (including three Rose Bowl victories) after the school had only reached six in its previous football history. He is Wisconsin's all-time winningest coach.

Lt. Gen. Michael Gould

Gould is the recently retired Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy. He is a 1976 academy graduate and former Falcons football player as well as a command pilot with more than 3,100 flight hours. He is 60.

Pat Haden

Director of athletics at USC, Haden is a former Rhodes Scholar and quarterback for the Trojans and Los Angeles Rams. A California native, the 60-year-old Haden has been a partner in a private equity firm, a practicing attorney and the color commentator for Notre Dame football.

Tom Jernstedt

Jernstedt spent 38 years with the NCAA beginning in 1972, rising to the title of Executive Vice President and most notably overseeing the men's basketball Final Four and working with the men's basketball tournament selection committee. An Oregon native and former University of Oregon athlete, the 68-year-old Jernstedt is a past president of USA Basketball and member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Oliver Luck

Director of athletics at West Virginia, Luck led the Mountaineers into the Big 12 Conference. Luck, 53, is a Cleveland native and former Rhodes Scholar finalist who played quarterback for West Virginia and the Houston Oilers. He formerly was vice president of business development for the NFL, president of NFL Europe, and the first president of the Houston Dynamo of MLS.

Archie Manning

From Drew, Miss., and a longtime New Orleans resident, Archie Manning is a University of Mississippi legend who played quarterback in the NFL from 1971-84. A frequent football commentator, the 64-year-old also runs the annual Manning Passing Academy with his sons.

Tom Osborne

Osborne, from Hastings, Neb., led the University of Nebraska football team to national championships in 1994, 1995 and 1997 (a shared title) and 13 conference championships. After retiring as the Cornhuskers' coach, he served six years in the U.S. House of Representatives and also was Nebraska's athletics director. Osborne is 76.

Dan Radakovich

Director of athletics at Clemson, Radakovich is one of 10 athletic directors appointed to lead the NCAA's restructuring efforts. The 54-year-old Aliquippa, Pa., native previously was director of athletics at Georgia Tech and American University.

Condoleezza Rice

Rice, 58, served as the United States' National Security Advisor from 2001-05 and Secretary of State from 2005-09. A native of Birmingham, Ala., she holds degrees from the University of Denver and Notre Dame, and is a professor of political science at Stanford, where she has been on faculty at Stanford since 1981.

Mike Tranghese

Tranghese was commissioner of the Big East Conference for 19 years until his retirement in June, 2008. Tranghese, 69, joined the league at its inception in 1979 and guided it through the addition of football and later expansion and contraction.

Steve Wieberg

A 59-year-old Missouri resident, Wieberg was a college sports reporter and original member of the USA TODAY staff from 1982 to 2012.

Tyrone Willingham

Willingham, 59, is a former coach at Stanford, Notre Dame and the University of Washington. A Michigan State grad, his coaching career spanned 32 seasons, and now he works as a volunteer assistant for the Stanford women's golf team.

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Daniel Uthman, USA TODAY Sports' senior editor for colleges, is on Twitter @DanUthman.