This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ogden • Doug Fullerton has proposed changes in the Football Championship Subdivision playoff selection process twice in recent years.
He's about to do it again.
Fullerton has spent three decades working on behalf of college student-athletes. He's been a coach, athletic director and, for the last 20 years, commissioner of the Big Sky Conference.
This year, his league was treated harshly by the football selection committee.
Regular-season champion Southern Utah failed to get a top-eight national seed — or even a first-round home game — and deserving North Dakota was completely snubbed. The UND decision, Fullerton says, "smacked me in the mouth."
On the field, the Big Sky was ranked as the No. 2 FCS football conference in the country. Yet, co-runner-up Portland State received the league's highest national seed — No. 6.
Fullerton's dissatisfaction with the selection committee isn't a personal beef, however. It comes down to a longstanding commitment to do what what's best for the players and coaches in the lowest tier of Division I football.
They are the ones who do without full cost of attendance, full-time charter air travel, luxury hotels and ESPN. They're the ones who benefit from having a respected administrator like Fullerton fighting battles others won't.
"It's not politically correct for me to be talking as frankly as I am," Fullerton said the other day in a conference room next to his office at Big Sky headquarters in Ogden.
"… We know there are hard decision to be made in that [selection] room. I just think, in the grand scheme of things, the FCS has so much traction right now. The autonomy group [of big schools] has broken away and the Group of 5 is sliding back toward us.
"One way to continue what's happening is to keep things extremely professional. And one way to be extremely professional is to make sure people understand our [selection] process is done correctly."
Fullerton glances out the window.
"Unfortunately, I think the public looks at the process this particular year and doesn't like it," he continued. "It doesn't do anything for our credibility."
Fullerton's solution?
Streamline the selection committee so it does not include athletic directors from every FCS conference who, consciously or not, can become advocates for their own leagues.
"In that room," Fullerton said, "that is deadly. Absolutely deadly."
Mark Wilson is the athletic director at Tennessee Tech and the chairman of the 2015 selection committee. He doesn't believe Fullerton's concerns are a problem.
"I don't think we have too many voices," Wilson said. "I don't think our committee members feel like they are advocates for a particular conference. They are knowledgeable about their particular conference, just as they are knowledge about all the schools that we monitor."
Fullerton counters with his idea of a four-member committee, not including a chairman: "You'd know going into the room that my job is more than representing my conference. … A conference rep? What does that mean? You are there to protect a conference? Just the thought creates problems."
Another issue?
The top eight playoff seeds receive first-round byes. The sites of the games among the other 16 teams are determined by bids. Some schools offer as much as $125,000 to play a home game, which is why Big Sky champion Southern Utah played at Sam Houston State in the first round. The Thunderbirds lost, 42-39, to a team that has reached this weekend's quarterfinals.
"If you suggest a school can buy a game or two, you'd be right," said Fullerton.
"… Look, I just want to make sure the FCS maintains its credibility. That's why I'm upset with the process. Hopefully, my remarks aren't pointed at people. I'm just frustrated by a system trying to save money and a system of having everyone with a rep in the [selection] room. Those kind of issues are hurting us."
Twitter: @sluhm —
FCS quarterfinals schedule
All times Mountain
Friday
• Richmond (9-3) at Illinois State (10-2), 5:30 p.m., ESPN3
• Charleston Southern (10-2) and Jacksonville (11-1), 6 p.m., ESPN2
Saturday
• Colgate (9-4) at Sam Houston State (10-3), 10 a.m., ESPN3
• Northern Iowa (9-4) at North Dakota State (10-2), 10 a.m., ESPN —
FCS quarterfinals schedule
All times Mountain
Friday
• Richmond (9-3) at Illinois State (10-2), 5:30 p.m., ESPN3
• Charleston Southern (10-2) and Jacksonville (11-1), 6 p.m., ESPN2
Saturday
• Colgate (9-4) at Sam Houston State (10-3), 10 a.m., ESPN3
• Northern Iowa (9-4) at North Dakota State (10-2), 10 a.m., ESPN