Former Oregon State and Nebraska coach Mike Riley has been named to the College Football Playoff selection committee. He replaces athletic director Pat Chun, who was appointed to the 13-member committee when he was at Washington State but stepped down when he was hired for the same position at Washington.

“We are pleased to have Mike join the committee,” Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP, said in a statement Friday. “He has significant experience as a player and coach, and he loves college football. He will bring a unique perspective to the committee. Plus, he is a delightful human being.”

Riley, who will serve a three-year term on the committee, was the head coach at Oregon State from 1997 to 1998 and again from 2003 to 2014 before leaving for Nebraska. Riley was fired from Nebraska by former athletic director Bill Moos in November 2017, just hours after the Cornhuskers lost to Iowa 56-14 to close a 4-8 season in Lincoln, the worst at the school since 1961. Riley ended his stint at Nebraska with a 19-19 record in three seasons.

Riley, who at one time was the longest-tenured coach in the Pac-12, took over an Oregon State program in 1997 that hadn’t had a winning season since 1970. He left after two seasons for a three-year stint with the San Diego Chargers — but not before his Beavers knocked off a nationally ranked Oregon team in an overtime thriller in the 1998 Civil War game.

He returned to Corvallis in 2003 and had winning seasons in eight of the next 12. His Beavers defeated No. 3 USC at home in 2006, No. 2 California on the road in 2007, No. 1 USC at home in 2008 and No. 9 Arizona on the road in 2010. His decision to leave Corvallis for Nebraska shocked many at the time.

In 2018, Riley returned to Oregon State for a third stint, this time as an assistant under then-first-year coach Jonathan Smith. He was only there for a few months because he was hired as head coach of the San Antonio franchise of the Alliance of American Football league, which was entering its inaugural season.

Other new committee members include former Toledo and Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek.

They will replace former committee chair Boo Corrigan, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor, Hall of Fame former coach Joe Taylor and former Notre Dame linebacker and tight end Rod West, whose terms have expired. The CFP extended the term of former All-American Nebraska lineman Will Shields for an additional year.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel will replace Corrigan as the committee chair. While there are several former coaches and players in the group, seven sitting athletic directors representing seven conferences (including one from each Power 5 league) make up the majority. The other returning committee members are former Nevada coach Chris Ault, Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk, former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, Miami (Ohio) athletic director David Sayler, former sportswriter Kelly Whiteside, Manuel and Shields.

They will all be tasked with being the first group to select the teams for the new 12-team model, which will be unveiled this fall. The CFP will include the five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams. The top four conference champions will receive a first-round bye.

While the playoff field and format have changed, the selection committee’s role has not. The new members will continue to use mostly the same protocol to determine their weekly top 25 rankings and ultimately the final teams on Selection Day.

The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs are only a couple of weeks old, but there are already some lessons to be learned from them.

Here’s a look at some of the moments, trends and revelations from the NHL postseason so far, from being haunted by the past to leading into controversy to the pure hockey ecstasy of Connor McDavid.

Enjoy!

RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday he feels “really good” that he will reach a new contract with the team, mirroring optimism from president and general manager Don Waddell a day earlier.

Brind’Amour – considered by many the face of the franchise with his long-running ties here that include being the captain of the 2006 Stanley Cup winner – is in the final year of a deal reached in 2021. His status has become a talking point around the league with multiple jobs open as Carolina prepares to face the New York Rangers in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

“Yeah, I had a great conversation yesterday with Don, and then again this morning,” Brind’Amour said. “I feel really good that we’ll figure it out quickly. Yeah, I’m not concerned.”

That came a day after Waddell said he was “very confident” that the two sides would reach a deal.

“We talk daily about it,” Waddell said in a Zoom call with reporters following the team’s first-round series win against the New York Islanders. “I feel very confident as I’ve said before that this deal will get done. Rod wants to be a Hurricane for life.”

In an interview earlier this week with The News and Observer of Raleigh, team owner Tom Dundon said he thought the two sides were “just getting through the last little stuff.”

Brind’Amour, 53, arrived in Raleigh in a January 2000 trade from Philadelphia and played here until his retirement in 2010. He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over as a first-time head coach in 2018.

At the time, he proclaimed “I bleed Hurricane red” – then went about turning Carolina into a perennial winner.

Brind’Amour is 6-for-6 in getting the Hurricanes to the playoffs after the franchise went nine years without a postseason berth. Carolina has twice reached the Eastern Conference Final in the past five seasons and ranked second in the NHL over the last four combined regular seasons in points and points percentage behind only Boston.

Tuesday’s Game 5 win to close out the Islanders made Carolina the first team to win at least one series in six straight postseasons since Detroit did it from 1995-2000. Carolina entered the playoffs as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup according to ,

Carolina center Sebastian Aho shrugged off any idea Thursday of Brind’Amour’s status being a distraction.

“No, Roddy’s coaching us this year,” Aho said. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”

Also on Thursday, the Hurricanes addressed at least one organizational need by reaching a three-year affiliation agreement with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Chicago had been Carolina’s AHL affiliate from 2020-23 before opting to become an independent after that deal ended.

The new agreement will give the Hurricanes oversight of the Wolves’ hockey operations decisions along with a place to develop rising prospects. The Wolves won the Calder Cup in 2022 with a team featuring current Hurricanes players such as defenseman Jalen Chatfield, forwards Stefan Noesen and Jack Drury, and goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov.

Since parting ways with Chicago, Carolina had parked prospects with teams in the AHL and ECHL.