Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
Notre Dame

Notre Dame bookstore cancels book signing of author, CFP selection committee member Ivan Maisel

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko23 hours agonickkosko59

Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore canceled a scheduled Friday signing of Ivan Maisel’s book on Frank Leahy. Leahy is a legendary former coach of the Fighting Irish from 1941-43 and ’46-53 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1970.

But the canceled signing is eye-opening. Maisel is a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee, so this stems from Notre Dame being left out of the 12 team field this year.

“I’m disappointed,” Maisel told Matt Fortuna. “I look forward to hearing people out and talking about my book.”

UPDATE: The Athletic’s Pete Sampson later reported hours later that the Hammes Bookstore reinstated the signing for Maisel’s book. Sampson also reported Maisel will be back on campus during spring game week to sign copies of American Coach, his book on Leahy.

Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua was outspoken this week about the CFP snub. He claimed the ACC did permanent damage to their relationship, claimed their 10-game winning streak was one of the great runs college football has seen and more. So this is the latest move by Notre Dame to distance itself from the playoff snub, which also included a bowl opt out.

Notre Dame was tabbed as the First Team Out of the Playoff, followed by BYU as the Second Team Out. The two programs were reportedly set to face off in the Pop-Tarts Bowl before Notre Dame declined an invite and decided to sit out of the postseason. After claiming that the ACC targeted them, Bevacqua went in on the format and process of selection for the College Football Playoff.

“[The conference commissioners] all know how I feel about the format,” Bevacqua continued. “Four teams, 12 teams, 16 teams, 1,000 teams. It should be 16 teams in my option, with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large.

“This year, 16 would have been perfect. Notre Dame, Texas, Vanderbilt, and whoever else is in there. Year-by-year, you’re never going to have the same data points each year. It’s never going to work out perfectly, whether you have four, 12, or 16. What I like about 16 is that it does create for more opportunity and it creates more narratives around schools, and yet preserves the integrity and importance of the regular season.”