Rich Clark, CFK executive director
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — UNLV’s football team would have “had a great case” to participate in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff if the Rebels were able to beat Boise State in the Mountain West Conference title game Friday, CFP Executive Director Rich Clark told LVSportsBiz.com Tuesday.
“This was what the playoff was about. This was an opportunity for a great team to maybe find a path to the playoff,” Clark said. “They fell short, but they should be really proud of where they went. The whole committee was watching very closely to see how this was going to go.”
Clark said the committee was not “freaking out” about the underdog UNLV Rebels possibly making the playoff because they were ranked at 20 and were climbing. It would have been a memorable first 12-team playoff if UNLV’s football team was in the championship tournament while Alabama was out of the running.
Here’s Clark talking to LVSportsBiz.com about UNLV:
Clark, 60, a recently-retired Air Force Lieutenant General and Air Force Academy superintendent after 38 years, was the executive director of the committee that just picked the dozen college football teams participating in the inaugural and expanded college football playoff tournament. Clark also was a 1986 Air Force Academy graduate and lineman who played on a Top 10 AFA team.
Clark was the first speaker at Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum at The Cosmopolitan on the Strip being staged Tuesday and Wednesday.
Clark said he liked the varying backgrounds of the committee members and cracked, “I’m taking more fire than I ever did in the military.”
The committee will take a look at expanding the playoff field even more to perhaps 14 teams. That’s just an option to be considered, Clark noted. Keeping the tournament at 12 is also an option. He did say the first year of the 12-team playoff versus having only four teams was a positive move.
“Expansion of the playoff gives hope to so many teams,” Clark said during his chat with Sports Business Journal Managing Editor Austin Karp.
College sports are a hot sports-biz topic right now with NIL companies springing up and college athletes jumping from college to college like free agents seeking playing time and hard cash.
Sports Business Journal Publisher Abe Madkour, pictured above on the right watching Rich Clark, said 580 attendees were in the SBJ conference system.
“When we scheduled this event the week after selection Sunday, Richard Clark was our first have-to-have speaker,” Madkour said. “This program has a longstanding tradition of thought leaders speaking to the industry. (Clark) quickly agreed and it’s perfect timing for him to speak.”
UNLV was on the cusp of making the final 12 college playoff teams, but lost, 21-7, to Boise State in Boise, Idaho four five days ago.
Less than two days after the UNLV loss, Barry Odom, said he was leaving UNLV for the head coaching job at Purdue of the Big Ten. He signed a six-year deal valued at least at $39 million, according to published reports. There’s no way UNLV could compete with that salary.
UNLV, 10-3, plays Cal in the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk at SoFi Stadium Dec. 18.
UNLV Athletic Director Erick Harper said he is immediately working on finding a new head coach to replace Odom.
Harper said Sunday after the UNLV players were told Odom was leaving: “It’s a hard day for everyone.”