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College Football Playoff

Bill Hancock

Bill Hancock

  • Title
    Executive Director

Bill Hancock has achieved a unique trifecta at the highest echelon of intercollegiate athletics. He was the first full-time director of the NCAA Final Four, the first executive director of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and the first executive director of the College Football Playoff (CFP).

Hancock was named executive director of the CFP in November 2012. He was the only CFP employee at the time. The leaders of the CFP directed him to finalize the details of a media rights agreement, negotiate agreements with the bowl games and with national championship game host cities, build a staff, find office space, contact members to serve on the selection committee, and draft protocol and procedures for the committee to use.

The playoff has been a phenomenal success; in its first year, it was named Sports Event of the Year by SportsBusiness Journal.

Hancock's five-decade career began in 1971 when he became assistant sports information director at the University of Oklahoma. He spent 16 years with the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, 13 years as its director. In 2005, he was appointed administrator of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). He became executive director in 2009 and was named to the same role for the playoff when it was created in 2012. Hancock has served on the United States Olympic Committee staff at 15 Olympic Games and two Pan American Games.

He has been inducted into the halls of fame of the state of Oklahoma, College Sports Information Directors and the All-College Basketball Classic. A former newspaper editor, Bill has written two books. His memoir about the cross-country bicycle journey he undertook in the aftermath of his son's death, Riding With the Blue Moth, was among the top sports books after its release in October, 2005. It was re-issued in 2015. His second book, This One Day, in Hobart is a history of his hometown. He is married to his high school sweetheart, the former Nicki Perry.

The gymnasium in Hobart, Oklahoma, is named the “Hancock Event Center” in honor of Bill and his brother, Joe.

In June 2023, Hancock announced that he will step down when his current contract with the CFP expires in February 2025.

Bill Hancock

TIMELINE

  • 1950, September 9 – Born in Hobart, Oklahoma
  • 1968-71 – University of Oklahoma (graduated after three and one-half years, journalism major)
  • 1971-74 – Assistant Sports Information Director, University of Oklahoma
  • 1974-78 – Editor, Hobart Democrat-Chief
  • 1978-83 – Service Bureau Director, Big Eight Conference
  • 1983-89 – Assistant Commissioner, Big Eight Conference
  • 1989-2002 – Director, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship (Final Four)
  • 2001, January 27 – Son Will Hancock killed in the crash of the Oklahoma State University basketball team’s airplane
  • 2005, September – Riding with the Blue Moth published
  • 2002-05 – Media Director, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, on a consulting basis
  • 2005, October – Named administrator of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS)
  • 2007 – This One Day in Hobart published
  • 2009, November – Named executive director of the BCS
  • 2012, November – Named executive director of the College Football Playoff
 

FAMILY

  • He married his high school sweetheart, the former Nicki Perry of Hobart, Oklahoma, September 19, 1968.
  • His parents were Ransom Hancock, owner and publisher of the Hobart Democrat-Chief newspaper, and Annie B. Hancock, a piano teacher and church organist.
  • His three siblings, Walter Joe, Jennie Bailey and Anne Ransom, are deceased.
  • His son, John Nathan “Nate,” works for RSA, a management consulting company in Overland Park, Kansas.
  • His son, William Ransom III “Will,” died at age 31 in the crash of the Oklahoma State University basketball team’s airplane in 2001.
  • His daughters-in-law are Kristin, a physician’s assistant in Overland Park, and Karen, who lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma and is the Oklahoma State athletics department’s Senior Woman Administrator and assistant soccer coach.
  • Bill and Nicki have three grandchildren, Andrea Bailey Hancock, born November 16, 2000; William Patrick Hancock, born September 6, 2002; and Jack McGuire Hancock, born January 28, 2006.

HONORS

  • 1995 – Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Oklahoma School of Journalism
  • 1999 – Katha Quinn Award (United States Basketball Writers Association)
  • 2004 – “Service to Basketball” Award, New England Sports Hall of Fame
  • 2005 – St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s “Most Influential People in College Basketball”
  • 2005 – College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame
  • 2010 – All-College Basketball Tournament Hall of Fame
  • 2012 – Regents Alumni Award, University of Oklahoma
  • 2015 – No. 10 among “Most Influential People in College Sports” by a panel chosen by Jon Solomon of CBS Sports
  • 2015 – April 20 was “Bill and Nicki Hancock Day” in Hobart, Oklahoma
  • 2015 – Oklahoma Hall of Fame Inductee
  • 2016 – Keith Jackson Eternal Flame Award, College Sports Information Directors of America
  • 2021 – Sports Business Journal “The Champions: Pioneers and Innovators in Sports Business”

ACTIVITIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • 15 marathons including Boston and New York City twice (fastest time is three hours, six minutes)
  • Two cross-country bicycle rides (Pacific to Atlantic 2001; Mexico to Canada, 2003)
  • Two rim-to-rim-to-rim backpacking trips, Grand Canyon
  • Climbed Mt. Rainier, 1994
  • Co-chair, 1988 Kansas City Final Four Organizing Committee
  • Served as chair of the administrative council, family council and capital campaign for Asbury United Methodist Church, Prairie Village, Kansas
  • Served on the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) staff at 15 Olympic Games (1984 Los Angeles, 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, 2006 Torino, 2008 Beijing, 2010 Vancouver, 2012 London, 2014 Sochi, 2016 Rio, 2018 PyeongChang, 2021 Tokyo and 2022 Beijing)
  • Served on the USOC staff at two Pan American games (1987 Indianapolis, 1991 Havana)
  • 1977 and 1979, Abby Award winner for best director, Shortgrass Playhouse, Hobart, Oklahoma (Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music)

INTERESTS AND HOBBIES

  • History
  • Writing
  • Classical music
  • Theater
  • Cycling
  • Camping and Hiking