Harris Poll Unveils Voters

Louisville received one first-place vote in the first Associated Press poll, doormat Duke garnered consideration in the coaches’, then, on Monday, it was revealed that one of the 114 panelists in the inaugural Harris Interactive College Football Poll made his name as a basketball coach.

And Gene Bartow thought replacing John Wooden was tough?

In other words, as dawn breaks on another college campaign, here

The naming of names by Harris on Monday tied up the last loose end to another patch-quilt off-season.

The Harris poll was created by bowl championship series officials who needed a replacement in the BCS standings formula for the AP, which pulled its poll from the equation in December after a conflict-of-interest ruckus that involved big money, Texas’ edging out of California for the Rose Bowl, and a lot of yelling.

The Harris poll comprises former coaches and players, administrators and media members. It includes some of the most respected names in sports -- and somebody named Kevin Duhe -- but no women.

Among the panelists are former coaches Lou Holtz, Jim Sweeney and Earle Bruce, and former NFL stars Terry Bradshaw, Craig Morton, Steve Largent and Boomer Esiason.

Brentson Buckner, a former Clemson defensive end, is still listed on the active roster of the Carolina Panthers, so remembering what time to get his ballot in every Sunday will be easy since it’s the same as most NFL start times: 1 p.m. Eastern.

There are two former USC players on the list -- Pat Haden and Anthony Munoz -- and former athletic directors from USC (Mike McGee) and UCLA (Peter Dalis).

“I’m going to do it one year and see how it works out,” Haden, on vacation in Laguna Beach, said of his involvement. “I’m interested in testing new waters.”

Haden says 30 years following college football have prepared him for controversies -- although he joked that he didn’t want his e-mail address made public.

“I was on a national-title team that was a split-poll winner,” the former USC quarterback said of the 1974 Trojans.

USC is Haden’s No. 1 team, “until further notice.”

Bartow, the former basketball coach at UCLA and Alabama Birmingham, presumably earned his way on as the longtime athletic director at UAB.

As the only major sport without a playoff, college football opted in 1998 to create a multi-layered formula to determine its national-title game participants.

Although the system has been simplified over the years and now gives equal weighting to the two human polls and a computer component, the BCS has never been simple.

Harris poll members were chosen from among 300 nominations supplied by the 11 major conferences and independents, with each league getting 10 voters. Of the independents, Notre Dame was allotted three votes, and Army and Navy combined for one.

Harris Interactive, a marketing research firm, is in charge of gathering and processing the weekly poll, which will debut Sept. 25.

Harris spokeswoman Nancy Wong said Monday she believed the panelists chosen are dedicated to paying attention and getting their votes in promptly.

“The participants all know the commitment,” she added.

Harris pollsters agreed to “principles of participation,” one of which is submitting their own ballot each week.

Only the final ballots of the Harris and USA Today coaches’ polls will be made public.

The debut of another poll, however, figures to complicate college football’s already muddled landscape.

AP’s poll of college football writers and broadcasters will continue, as it has since 1936, crowning a national champion.

Darrell Christian, AP’s director of sports data, said he did not think his company’s poll would be diminished.

“Whoever the BCS ends up crowning as champion, they will not be true national champions unless they’re crowned by the AP,” he said.

This year’s BCS national-title game will be played Jan. 4 at the Rose Bowl.

AP argues it has always been independent of the BCS and proved it in 2003.

That year, USC finished No. 1 in the writers’ and coaches’ polls but No. 3 in the BCS standings behind Oklahoma and Louisiana State.

While LSU claimed the BCS share of the title by winning the Sugar Bowl, the AP awarded its national title that year to USC.

The AP lost a handful of voters to the new Harris poll in part because, Christian said, the AP would not allow writers to vote in both polls.

Ted Lewis, of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, switched to Harris because he considered it more balanced.

“I think Harris is better than the AP because it’s a mixture of writers, coaches and administrators,” Lewis said. “There are more people [114 to the 65 voters in the AP]. You’re less of a factor.”

Lewis said his paper did not have a conflict-of-interest problem with his participation.

“Sometimes people can get a little holier than thou,” he said. “It’s just football.”

Other writers, such as the Seattle Times’ Bud Withers, declined an invitation to serve on the Harris poll.

“One thing that disturbed me is they wouldn’t tell me the makeup of the poll, who else was on it,” Withers said. “It’s like, would you pledge to a fraternity without meeting the guys? No way.”

Some papers, including the Los Angeles Times, prohibit writers from voting in polls. The Times, by choice, has not voted in the AP poll for more than a decade.

Christian said the AP would continue to make public the weekly ballots of its voters.

“We’ve always been more credible,” Christian said. “Our poll has been made available to the public every week since 1990.

“Others are just coming around to making their final polls public.”

The BCS was ostensibly created to prevent split national champions, yet it has been beset with controversy almost from the outset.

There may be another poll in the works too. An Atlanta businessman is trying to unite former coaches to create the “Masters Coaches Survey.”

If you think it’s complicated now, just wait until they start playing the games.

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By the numbers

A breakdown on the number of voters in the Harris poll, which was created by bowl championship series officials as a replacement in the BCS standings formula for the Associated Press poll:

*--* 114 Number of voting members 10 Representing each of 11 Division I-A football conferences 3 Voters representing Notre Dame 2 Former USC players voting (Pat Haden, Anthony Munoz) 1 Representing Army and Navy 1 Former UCLA basketball coaches (Gene Bartow) 0 Former UCLA football coaches 0 Female members

*--*

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The voters

The 114 former players and coaches, administrators, and media members who will vote in the Harris Interactive College Football Poll (with affiliation if available):

Bobby Aillet, Louisiana Tech player.

Gene Bartow, UAB athletic director; Bill Battle, Tennessee coach; Dick Bestwick, Virginia coach; Joe Biddle, media; Blaine Bishop, Ball State player; Kim Bokamper, San Jose State player; Terry Bradshaw, Louisiana Tech player; Wilt Browning, media; Earle Bruce, Ohio State coach; Brentson Buckner, Clemson player.

Bob Casciola, former president of the National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame; Charlie Cavagnaro, Nevada Las Vegas, Memphis athletic director; John Congemi, Penn State player; Jake Crouthamel, Syracuse athletic director; Eddie Crowder, Colorado coach and athletic director.

Peter Dalis, UCLA athletic director; Charles Davis, media; Pete Dawkins, Army player; Gerry DiNardo, Indiana coach; Boots Donnelly, Middle Tennessee athletic director; Bill Dooley, North Carolina, Virginia Tech coach; Kevin Duhe, Louisiana Monroe player; Spike Dykes, Texas Tech coach.

Bump Elliott, Michigan, Iowa coach; Bert Emanuel, Rice player; Boomer Esiason, Maryland player.

Don Fambrough, Kansas coach; Foge Fazio, Pittsburgh coach; Bob Frederick, Kansas, Utah athletic director.

Andy Geiger, Ohio State athletic director; David Glazier, current senior V.P. Detroit Lions; Jim Grabowski, Illinois player; Mike Grace, media; Bob Grim, Oregon State player.

Pat Haden, USC player; Dick Harmon, media; Bob Hammel, media; Tommy Hicks, media; Clarkston Hines, Duke player; Lou Holtz, South Carolina, Notre Dame, Arkansas coach; E.J. Holub, Texas Tech player; David Housel, Auburn athletic director.

Rocket Ismail, Notre Dame player.

Fred Jacoby, Southwest Conference commissioner; Charley Johnson, New Mexico State player.

Blair Kerkhoff, media; Mike Kern, media; Roy Kramer, Southeastern Conference commissioner.

Larry Lacewell, Arkansas State coach and athletic director; Dave Lapham, Syracuse player; George Lapides, media; Steve Largent, Tulsa player; Robert Lawless, Tulsa and Kansas president; Jack Lengyel, Navy, Missouri, Fresno State athletic director; Jim Lessig, MAC commissioner; Ferd Lewis, media; Ted Lewis, media; Mike Lucas, media; Mike Lude, Washington, Auburn athletic director; Tom Luicci, media.

John Mackovic, Arizona coach; Don Maynard, UTEP player; Don McCauley, North Carolina player; Joe McConnell, media; Mike McGee, South Carolina, USC athletic director; Lance McIlhenny, SMU player; Ray Melick, media; Ted Miller, media; Darrell Moody, N.C. State player; Jim Morse, Notre Dame player; Craig Morton, California player; Jack Moss, media; Anthony Munoz, USC player.

Chuck Neinas, Big 8 commissioner; Tim Neverett, media; Dave Newhouse, media.

George, Perles, Michigan State coach; Ed Podolak, Iowa player; John Pont, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern coach; Steve Preece, Oregon State player.

Jason Rash; Homer Rice, Georgia Tech athletic director; Pat Richter, Wisconsin athletic director; Paul Roach, Wyoming coach; Kenny Roda, media

Lou St. Amant; Harvey Schiller, SEC commissioner; Dr. Terry Schmidt, Ball State player; Dick Schultz, Virginia athletic director; executive director of NCAA; Lee Roy Selmon, Oklahoma player; Dick Sheridan, Furman, N.C. State coach; Ken Shipp; Irwin Smallwood, media; Jim Ray Smith, Baylor player; Larry Smith, Missouri coach; Sam Smith, media; Gary Spani, Kansas State coach; Ron Stephenson, former player; Nelson Stokley, Louisiana Lafayette, coach AD; Jim Sweeney, Fresno State coach.

Rick Taylor, Northwestern, Cincinnati athletic director; Whit Taylor, Vanderbilt player; Jack Thompson, Washington State player; John Toner, Connecticut athletic director; Steve Townsend, LSU sports information director; Glenn Tuckett, BYU athletic director.

Max Urick, Iowa State, Kansas State athletic director.

Roger Valdiserri, Notre Dame sports information director.

Bob Wagner, Hawaii coach; Frank Weedon, N.C. State sports information director; Frank Windegger, TCU player, coach and athletic director.

Bill Yeoman, Houston coach; Hugh Yoshida, Hawaii athletic director.