Steve Spurrier Supports Condoleezza Rice's Appointment to College Football Playoff Selection Committee; Criticized by ESPN's David Pollack, Pat Dye
ByApparently girls are incapable of knowing anything about football because the vast majority do not play, at least that is according to former Auburn coach Pat Dye.
After Condoleezza Rice was named to the College Football Playoff selection committee, Dye joined several critics in voicing their concern. Speaking Monday on WJOX Morning Drive show, Dye said Rice would not understand football because she never experienced it firsthand.
"All she knows about football is what somebody told her," he said. "Or what she read in a book, or what she saw on television. To understand football, you've got to play with your hand in the dirt."
Rice, a Birmingham, Ala. native, and former U.S. Secretary of State under George W. Bush, is also the former provost of Stanford University, a perennial CFB powerhouse.
Said Dye, "I love Condoleezza Rice and she's probably a good statesman and all of that but how in the hell does she know what it's like out there when you can't get your breath and it's 110 degrees and the coach asks you to go some more?"
Dye is, of course, entitled to an opinion, as is South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier, whose is just the opposite.
"Why not," Spurrier told ESPN. "She's a Stanford graduate (and she) plays a little golf."
Rice is, in fact, one of two female members at Augusta National Golf Club, the site of the PGA Master's tournament.
ESPN analyst David Pollack was also critical of her appointment, saying he wanted to see "guys who can watch tape" and "that have played football" to be on the committee.
Sports Illustrated's Michael Rosenberg was critical as well, but of those who outwardly opposed Rice's appointment. He called the criticism from Dye and Pollack "sexist and stupid."
"The playoff committee is supposed to determine which four teams are most qualified to play for the national title," wrote Rosenberg. "That is it. Rice is smart enough and diligent enough to do that. The task has nothing to do with putting your hand in the dirt."
He also noted he did not believe Dye or Pollack were sexist men themselves, but speculated the two men "think they are protecting the game."
As ESPN previously reported, Rice will not be the only member on the committee who has not played football in college or in the pros. One of the people reported to serve on the committee, to go into effect after the 2014 season, will be longtime USA Today sportswriter Steve Wieberg.