On Friday, Baylor’s Athletic Director and college football chairman, Mack Rhoades, went on a personal leave due to unexplained reasons. Following that, the CFP committee is expected to fill his position as soon as possible.

Last month, college football playoffs committee member Randall McDaniel also departed owing to personal reasons. Now, with Rhoades’ absence, the committee is two members short. So far, Michigan AD Warde Manuel appears to be a potential candidate to fill one of the spots. Currently, according to the requirements of the CFP committee, the candidate must be an active Athletic Director.

Already experienced as a chairman of the committee last year, he might make a good case for AD Rhoades’ replacement. With two years of experience as a regular member of the selection committee in 2022 and 2023, and having served as chairman after Boo Corrigan’s departure, the Michigan AD appears to be an optimal candidate. Last year, with college football adopting a new 12-team CFP format, he navigated the shaky beginning.

In a conversation with CBS Sports, the AD touched upon stepping up to the chairman role. I wanted to do it because I wanted to help college football,” he said. “It was a way to give back to a game that I love and [that has] done a lot for me over my lifetime.”

However, he had enough share of the controversies on his plate during that one-year tenure as chairman. The most prominent discontent with the committee’s workings surfaced when a 9-3 Alabama team was ranked higher than a 10-2 Miami team. In his explanation, Manuel stated. “Both have had some losses that weren’t what they wanted out of those games. But in those last three games, Miami has lost twice. For us, in evaluating their body of work, we felt that Alabama got the edge over Miami.” However, it wasn’t the sole incident that raised eyebrows. The Ohio State-Georgia rankings were another episode that occurred under his leadership.

During early November, one-loss Ohio State was ranked higher at 2nd than one-loss Georgia, which was placed in the third spot. When questioned about the reasoning behind those rankings, the then-chairman Manuel had one word to base CFP’s reasoning on. Consistency.”For us, it was the consistency. Georgia, very good team, great win against Texas, a win over Clemson,” Manuel stated. “Consistency in terms of their offense. They’ve had some inconsistencies there, but they have a great defense. … It was a close analysis, but in the end, we just felt that Ohio State was a more consistent performer at this point in time.”

Manuel’s tenure saw some disagreements; however, no other potential candidate currently has the experience of leading the committee through a new phase. Staring down at Mack Rhoades’ leave, Michigan AD Warde Manuel can be an optimal candidate.

So far, no official statements have been provided regarding Rhoades’ absence. However, the AD’s controversy at Baylor did raise eyebrows.

Mack Rhaodes controversy

During week 4, Baylor’s locker room exploded with another controversy that had nothing to do with its opponent, Arizona State. Rather, the whole saga unfolded on the sidelines

During the first quarter, the AD was reportedly seen grabbing the shirt of tight end Michael Trigg. While the rest of the team was wearing dark colored undershirts, Trigg’s gold, long-sleeved undershirt caught the AD’s attention, and as reported, he was seen shouting expletives at the tight end. “What the f*** are you wearing that yellow shirt for?” he yelled.

The whole situation was witnessed by assistant coaches present on the sidelines. The Athletic reported that HC Dave Aranda and TE coach Jareett Anderson had an altercation with the AD, who grabbed the assistant’s arm, shoulder, and neck area. An internal investigation soon began regarding the episode.