John Ford Jr. joined the College Football Playoff in April 2024 after previously serving as assistant athletic director for football operations at the University of Pittsburgh. In this capacity, Ford was highly instrumental in every operational aspect of the Panther football program, including road game travel of the team’s away game headquarters each season. Originally from Piscataway, New Jersey, Ford’s career in college football began as a four-year student assistant at Rutgers University who worked in the video and recruiting offices as an undergraduate. He went on to serve for two years as an operations and video assistant for the Scarlet Knights before a four-year stint at Wake Forest, beginning as an operations and video assistant for three seasons before becoming the Demon Deacons’ associate director of football operations. Ford holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Rutgers and a master’s degree in liberal studies from Wake Forest.
