When a sports committee has to reach out to FBI because of death threats, we know we’ve gone too far in the name of fandom.
College Football Playoff committee Executive Director Bill Hancock told reporters on Monday that several committee members had received death threats after Florida State was left out of the playoff.
Even for someone who has been in the college sports business a long time and heard his fair share of criticism, Hancock was taken aback.
“I’ve been doing this 35 years,” he told reporters. “I’ve seen it and I understand those fans, but this one was absolutely over the top and inappropriate. In my 35 years, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
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Future College Football Playoff committees shouldn’t be affected
Hancock said that the extreme reaction was disappointing and didn’t take into consideration the amount of work put into making the decisions the committee had to make.
The committee took once-beaten Alabama and Texas in the playoff over undefeated Florida State, which had lost its quarterback in the final game of the regular season.
“It’s ridiculous because the committee is full of highly technical people that don’t react to any outside influences,” he said. “It’s been terribly disappointing.”
Hancock confirmed to the press Monday that threats had been made to the offices and homes of several Selection Committee members as well as CFP leadership and their headquarters in the Dallas area. He admitted to getting a threat to his house.
Hancock told reporters that those threats shouldn’t deter others from serving on the committee in the future. He said steps had been taken to protect those on the committee, but didn’t specify what those steps were.