CFP chair Mack Rhoades on leave from Baylor, playoff roles

Baylor athletic director and College Football Playoff chairman Mack Rhoades is stepping away from both roles for personal reasons.

CFP executive director Rich Clark told ESPN on Thursday that Rhoades "will step down from his role with the committee at this time for personal reasons." The CFP likely will try to replace Rhoades and will work on naming a new chair.

Rhoades told ESPN that he initiated the leave from his Baylor role but declined to explain why.

Baylor told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg that the university received allegations involving Rhoades on Monday. The allegations do not involve Title IX, student welfare or NCAA rules and do not involve the football program, indicating it is a separate incident from Rhoades' alleged altercation with a football player during a September game.

The CFP typically requires athletic directors on the selection committee to be active, "sitting" athletic directors. The 12-person group was already one member short this season after committee member Randall McDaniel also stepped away last month for personal reasons.

Baylor had previously confirmed multiple reports of an internal investigation into a confrontation Rhoades allegedly had with tight end Michael Trigg about the color of the shirt he was wearing during the Bears' Sept. 20 game against Arizona State. The school had issued a release saying the incident was "thoroughly reviewed and investigated in accordance with University policies, appropriate actions were taken and the matter is now closed."

Jovan Overshown and Cody Hall will serve as Baylor's co-interim athletic directors, a school spokesman told Rittenberg. Overshown is the school's deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, and Hall is Baylor's executive senior associate athletic director for internal administration and chief financial officer.

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