Former Kansas City offensive line officer and Pro Shoots Hall of Famer Will Football, who also won the Outland Trophy while in Nebraska, and Virginia Union athletic director Joe Taylor, one of the most successful coaches in HBCU history, headlines five new selection committees for college football members announced Tuesday.
Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart, NC State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan and Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte, along with Shields and Taylor, will begin their three-year terms this spring on the 13-member committee.
They will replace Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, former coach Ken Hatfield, former USC Ronnie Lott, Georgia Tech sports director Todd Stansbury and Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin, whose terms have expired.
“Mitch, Boo, Chris, Will and Joe will continue the integrity that has been the committee’s hallmark throughout the seven seasons,” PCP Executive Director Bill Hancock said in a prepared statement. “Their knowledge, experience and character, along with their love for the sport of college football, will make the perfect transition.”
The PCP’s steering committee, which includes the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, has also extended Iowa athletic director Gary Barta’s term as chairman of the selection committee for a second season. Barta, who has been in Iowa since 2006, joined the committee in January 2019 and was named chairman a year later.
“We are pleased that Gary will return as president,” Hancock said. “He was a valuable leader as the committee navigated a unique and challenging year. We look forward to working with the other 12 members on what we hope will be a more traditional season in 2021.”
Shields, a former guardian of the Nebraska All-America Consensus, played for the Cornhuskers from 1989 to ’92 and is one of 16 players in school history to withdraw his shirt. In 2011, Shields was inducted into the college’s renowned football hall.
It was a third round of the Chiefs in the 1993 NFL Draft and he never missed a game in 14 seasons, starting 231 straight games on the right guard and winning a record 12 Pro Bowl appearances from 1995 to 2000. was inducted into the Pro Fame Football Hall in 2015.
Taylor, who has worked at Virginia Union since 2013, has had a 41-year career as a coach, including 30 as head coaches. During his administrative tenure in Richmond, the school won 15 divisional, conference and regional championships.
As head coach, Taylor’s teams have won five black college national championships, 10 conference titles and made 10 playoff appearances. Taylor set a life-winning record of 233-96-4 and ranks third in career victories in HBCU history. Taylor was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019 and the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2020. He also served as president of the American Football Coaches Association.
Barnhart, who has been athletic director of Kentucky since 2002, is the longest-serving athletic director in the SEC and was named chairman of the SEC athletic directors in 2017. He was also a member of the NCAA Division I basketball and baseball committees.
Corrigan, who spent eight years as an athletic director in the military, has held the same position at NC State since April 2019. He was named athletic director of 2017 by the National Association of Collegiate Athletics Directors. While at West Point, the Army won 20 regular season championships or Patriot League tournaments and sent 14 teams to the NCAA postseason.
Del Conte was hired as athletic director in Texas in December 2017, after making a name for himself during his eight-year tenure as AD at TCU, where he oversaw the school’s entry into the Big 12 conference. sports at Rice from 2006 to 2009.