BCS looking for new poll to fill AP void
By Dennis Dodd | CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Associated Press poll is replaceable.
That was the message from BCS commissioners Tuesday as they moved, glacially, toward another inevitable tweak in the system. The commissioners are now concentrating on what is being called a "replacement poll" to take the place of the AP poll which dropped out in January.
"It's fair to say we're leaning in that direction," BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg said after Tuesday's afternoon meetings.
Beyond that, nothing is solid. The commissioners listened Monday to replacement poll presentations from the National Football Foundation and National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
It is not known for sure who would take the place of the AP media voters. Some combination of former college administrators, coaches and media seems most likely.
"We're not ruling out any of those groups," Weiberg said.
Using current administrators, coaches and media would put them in the uncomfortable spot of having a direct hand in determining who gets lucrative bowl bids. Negative publicity focused on the poll by the BCS process is why the AP pulled out.
Weiberg initially said he was comfortable with a voting group of about 50. The AP poll consists of 65 weekly voting members. However, one proposal from the National Football Foundation reportedly included using 25 former coaches and five former athletic directors from five different parts of the country.
"They proposed some options to us," Weiberg said. "It wasn't just one option ... I feel we can come up with a suitable replacement poll. Clearly that's where we're putting our focus."
The next issue is whether the ballots would be public. Weiberg has indicated that a replacement poll almost certainly would have to be transparent. The coaches have been stubbornly against revealing their votes. However, it was intimated Monday by Grant Teaff that final ballots in the coaches' poll would be made public if a replacement poll was adopted to replace AP.
Teaff is the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, which oversees the 61 I-A coaches who vote in that poll.
There is the possibility that a code of voter ethics could be established as well, Weiberg said.
The question now becomes can a replacement poll be up and running in time for a July 15 loose deadline.
