FORMER COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BILL HANCOCK NAMED 2025 MICHAEL J. CLEARY MERIT OF HONOR AWARD RECIPIENT
Former College Football Playoff (CFP) Executive Director Bill Hancock has been selected as the 13th recipient of the Michael J. Cleary Merit of Honor Award by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). The award recognizes an individual whose superior integrity is displayed in tireless commitment to the highest ideals of athletics in general and intercollegiate athletics in particular. Hancock will be honored in June in conjunction with the 2025 NACDA & Affiliates Convention.
The award was named after former NACDA Executive Director Mike Cleary in 2011. Cleary served at the helm of NACDA from the Association’s inception in 1965 through his retirement in 2011, when he became director emeritus until his passing in 2015.
“This is an overwhelming honor,” Hancock said. “Mike Cleary was a friend and confidant; we were bound by our shared roots as championships administrators. NACDA is a beacon of integrity and represents the legion of folks who showed me the right path over the past half-century. I am deeply flattered and grateful.”
Hancock was named executive director of the CFP a few months after the event was created in 2012. He was the only CFP employee at the time. The leaders of the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences and Notre Dame directed him to finalize the details of a media rights agreement, negotiate agreements with bowl games and 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 result was a decade of a successful four-team playoff model before the expansion to the 12-team era for the 2024-25 season.
Hancock achieved a unique trifecta in college athletics. He was the first full-time director of the NCAA Men’s Final Four, the first administrator of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), and the first executive director of the College Football Playoff.
He began his career in 1971 as assistant sports information director at the University of Oklahoma. Three years later, he became the editor of the Hobart Democrat-Chief newspaper (Oklahoma), then spent 11 years at the Big Eight Conference before becoming Final Four director in 1989.
After 16 years with the basketball tournament, Hancock joined the BCS in 2005.
Hancock’s wife, Nicki, retired after 30 years teaching high school English. Their son, Nate Hancock, and his wife, Kristin, live in Overland Park, Kansas. Their daughter-in-law, Karen Hancock, is senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator in the athletics department at Oklahoma State University. Their older son, Will, died in the crash of an airplane carrying members of the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team and staff in 2001. Hancock and his wife have three grandchildren.
The last individual to be recognized with the Merit of Honor Award was former Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany in 2021. To view the complete list of previous Merit of Honor Award winners, click here.
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About the College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is the event that crowns the national champion in college football. The CFP Selection Committee ranks the top 25 teams at the end of the season. The 12 playoff participants consist of the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The schools seeded five through eight will host those seeded nine through 12 in first-round games. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.
