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Referee Michael VanderVelde talks to his father, Mike, before the 2021 Outback Bowl.
Referee Michael VanderVelde talks to his father, Mike, before the 2021 Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida.

General Alan Babbitt

Michael VanderVelde '07 to Referee College Football Playoff National Championship Game

The former Flying Dutchmen baseball standout will lead a Big 12 officiating crew

A Hope College alum and former baseball standout will be in the middle of the action for the College Football Playoff national championship between the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes.

Referee Michael VanderVelde '07 will lead the Big 12 officiating crew assigned to tonight's game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:50 p.m. on ESPN.

Officials are drawn from a conference not represented in the title game. VanderVelde has officiated in the Big 12 since 2020 after working in the Southland and Mountain West conferences.

VanderVelde previously refereed the 2025 Sugar Bowl national quarterfinal between the Mississippi Rebels and Georgia Bulldogs, the 2024 Rose Bowl national semifinal between the Michigan Wolverines and Alabama Crimson Tide, and the 2023 Rose Bowl between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Utah Utes. He also officiated the 2023 XFL championship game.

VanderVelde told the Michigan High School Athletic Association for a February 2025 feature story that he is thrilled to have reached that elite level of officiating, despite the inherent pressures few fans fully grasp.

"It's a blast," said VanderVelde, who began officiating as a student-athlete at Hope, following his father, Mike. "To be there with other officials and doing things like working with the replays, getting the calls correct, 11-on-11 football and being on the biggest stage, I love it."

VanderVelde earned All-MIAA baseball honors three times for the Flying Dutchmen during his playing career. The second baseman made the first team in 2004 and 2007 and the second team in 2005. Hope claimed MIAA championships during VanderVelde's junior and senior seasons.

After graduating from Hope, VanderVelde continued officiating in Michigan before moving to Louisiana more than a decade ago. He received his first opportunity at the Division I level in 2013 as a referee in the Southland Conference. After two seasons in the Southland, he moved on to the Mountain West.

VanderVelde's work has drawn praise from FOX NFL analyst Dean Blandino, a former XFL vice president of officiating and playing rules innovation.

"The best referees that I've been around are the ones that are in control of the game, that have that command, that have that presence," Blandino told the XFL in a 2023 news release. "He has that. Sometimes football can get a little out of whack and crazy things can happen. He just seems to handle it really well."
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