DAPHNE - United States Sports Academy Chair of Sport Studies Dr. Kelly Flanagan will be interviewed on Mobile’s sports radio station WNSP Friday morning, 6 February, to discuss his ideas for restructuring the major college football postseason.

Dr. Flanagan, a graduate of the Academy’s master’s and doctoral program, will be live on “Sportcenter with Brien and Lee,” a show hosted by Brien Straw and Lee Shirvanian.

“I have a plan that will preserve the unique traditions and drama of major college football yet still provide a workable playoff system that will eliminate the instances that have upset fans in recent years,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan has been avidly following the issues surrounding the bowls vs. playoffs controversy in college football for 27 years. While a student at the Academy, he completed his mentorship requirements with the Jeep Aloha Bowl/O’ahu Bowl Doubleheader in Honolulu, Hawaii for his master’s degree and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta for his doctorate. He also served on the Atlanta Host Committee for the 2003 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four. His dissertation was titled “Factors Affecting Institutional Ticket Sales in College Football’s Non-Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Postseason Games.”

“As a pure sports fan, I can sympathize with those who would like to see national championships determined on the field as opposed by writers, coaches and computers,” Flanagan said. “But my academic pursuits have helped me develop a sensitivity to the bowl games and their place in the college football culture.”

Flanagan’s proposal, which he calls the “EBC 1-2-3” plan, in essence involves having a four-team playoff after the bowls, with the current BCS bowls acting as quarterfinal games and the non-BCS bowls being used to determine which conferences will obtain “automatic bids” for the playoffs the following season.

Dr. Flanagan is a former Fort Worth Star-Telegram sports writer who has served as sports editor of three newspapers in Texas. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1993. Along withh is academic duties, Flanagan serves as editor of The Sport Journal, the Academy’s online scholarly journal, the world’s largest peer-reviewed sports publication.

The United States Sports Academy is an independent, nonprofit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and the world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports. For more information about the Academy, call 251-626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu.