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"His national stature and knowledge of the game will help our committee so much," Hancock said of Alvarez. "We're delighted that he's a part of this. I've known Barry for awhile. He's one of the unique leaders in our business that can speak football and, obviously, he's a tremendous administrator." 40 // VARSITY November 21, 2013 we don't want everyone to go off at the same time," Hancock said. "Some are on two years, some on three, some on four. All new members will be three." Why 13? The size of the committee was not predetermined. "We went into this prepared to go 12 to 18," he said. "When this group signed up, it happened to be 13 and we knew this was the group we wanted. We looked at who we had and said, 'That's it, that's good enough."' In assembling the pieces to the puzzle, Hancock said, "We wanted diversity among the group. That's why we had classifications. We didn't want everybody to be coaches, just like we didn't want everyone to be administrators or journalists. So we've got a great mix. "We did look at geography," he pointed out. "We wanted to have so many from every part of the country and we got that also." With the inclusion of Condoleezza Rice on the committee, the former U.S. Secretary of State has been a lightning rod for those who have questioned her appointment and qualifications in this arena. ESPN analyst David Pollack and former Auburn coach Pat Dye were the most vocal dissenters. "When the word leaked out on who was going to be on the committee, and a couple of people said what they said about her," Hancock observed of the initial wave of criticism, "the reaction was overwhelming, 'No, she ought to be on this committee.' "She has been under scrutiny at the highest level, literally, in the world. Her scrutiny with her other job makes college football looks like child's play. She gets it ― in every way. She loves the game. She knows the game. She's tough. She's brilliant." As for the different strengths each member brings to the selection process, Hancock said, "We know obviously they have different backgrounds. We have an old sportswriter, three veteran coaches; we have some people who have been university presidents. "So they're all going to bring a different perspective. I think as time goes by we're going to learn the strengths of every one of them. But they're all people of the highest integrity and they're all very bright. There will be a tremendous amount of debate, and that's what we want." For 13 years, Hancock was the director of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship; he was the first full-time director of the Final Four. The Rating Percentage Index (RPI), a system that