Texas Tech University Athletics
Gameday Feature: Kirby Hocutt, The New CFP Chairman
September 03, 2016 | Football
The landscape dotting the small Texas town of Sherman may serve as an unlikely backdrop to the story of one of college athletics' fastest-rising leaders. There are no grand city lights, no loud media buzz and city does not find itself the as the epicenter of national headlines.
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It's simply the small, classic, Grayson County community of Sherman. But it does have football.
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For Kirby Hocutt, it was the sport of football that fueled his journey beyond the city limits and today into the national spotlight as the second-ever College Football Playoff Committee Chairman. Even today, as Hocutt enters his fifth football season as Director of Athletics at Texas Tech, his steady style and collective demeanor is embedded in the raw lessons taught by a lifetime of dedication to the sport he loves.
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"It's truly an honor and something I am looking forward to," Hocutt says. "The game of football has meant a great deal to me and my life. I do not believe I would be sitting where I am today without the lessons I have learned from the game of football."
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As CFP Committee Chair, Hocutt replaces Jeff Long, University of Arkansas Vice-Chancellor and Director of Athletics, who rotated out of the position after serving two years. In the role, Hocutt is directly responsible for setting the committee's agenda, directing meetings and serving as national spokesperson throughout the weekly rankings and selection process; ultimately selecting the four College Football Playoff teams.
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The opportunity comes after Hocutt was initially selected to serve as a committee member for the 2015 season. The Chairman role is perhaps unlike any other in the sport, as fans, media and fellow college football followers will ultimately look to Hocutt for insight into the committee's analysis of the sport's landscape.
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For Hocutt, the national leadership position is a natural evolution in his career, defined by a relentless pursuit to give back to the game that has given him so very much.Â
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In 1990, as a lightly recruited linebacker from Sherman, Hocutt accepted a prized scholarship offer from future College Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Snyder, as he set out to build the foundation to Kansas State's initial rise to national prominence. He went on to letter four years in Manhattan, eventually earning All-Big 8 honors and leading the conference in tackles as a junior.
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As a student-athlete at K-State, Hocutt found himself surrounded by some of the greatest names in college football including Bob Stoops, Jim Leavitt and more – all assistants at the time under Snyder. As part of that nucleus, Hocutt helped lead K-State to the program's first-ever postseason victory in 1993 at the Copper Bowl.
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That experience, as Kansas State went from a program dubbed 'Futility U' by Sports Illustrated just two years before he arrived on campus, to a bowl victory, injected a drive to remain connected with the student-athlete experience.
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"As a student-athlete, I forged some friendships and relationships that are very dear to me this day," Hocutt said. "I was able to learn about the process and the steps it took to build a successful football program under coach Snyder and some invaluable lessons during those five years."
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After his impressive career as a student-athlete, Hocutt went on to accept an internship at the College Football Association under Chuck Neinas. Shortly thereafter, he returned to his alma mater to assume a role in the school's marketing department as an assistant director at K-State.
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The opportunity, Hocutt says, opened a window to the world of intercollegiate athletics he had never seen before.
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"I saw for the first time everything that went on behind the scenes," he said. "There is a lot of hard work going on making it possible for student-athletes to get a world-class education and experience on the field. At that point in time , there was no doubt in my mind this was the career journey that I desired."
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Today, there's little doubt, the sport has left an indelible mark on his journey. That remains as clear as ever at his particular moment in Hocutt's career in sports administration. A highly-regarded leader known for his confident and steady style, Hocutt remains visually passionate about using his own story to preach the unique opportunities found in intercollegiate athletics.
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And so it's unsurprising that in January, at the site of the NCAA College Football Playoff Championship game in Phoenix, Ariz., Hocutt jumped at the very public opportunity to sit in the seat he serves in today. It was at that game that Hocutt received the call from Bill Hancock, College Football Playoff Executive Director, who asked him to serve in the role of the CFP Committee Chairman.
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"Kirby has established himself as a natural leader," Hancock said. "His personality, his background as a Football Bowl Subdivision student-athlete and his experience make him a perfect fit to chair the committee. Jeff Long set a high bar for excellence and we know Kirby will also be a terrific chairman."
And so, after speaking with his wife, Diane, Hocutt accepted the offer.
As he steps into the new leadership position, Hocutt will certainly do so in the very same manner in which he has led countless other initiatives and positions – with a razor sharp focus and desire to represent the game with the excellence he believes it deserves.
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"When you're passionate about something," Hocutt says. "And you believe in the role that college football, and to a greater extent collegiate athletics, plays in individual development of young people and the contributions that it provides in higher education, how it compliments the lessons young men and women are learning in the classroom; it's not hard at all to prepare and to serve in this role."
