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E. Gordon Gee (President West Virginia U.)

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Flurry of activity led to JT's resignation... story below
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State president Gordon Gee said today that the "flurry of activity" around former coach Jim Tressel led to the coach's resignation eight days ago, painting a picture of a buildup that the university couldn't handle less than three months after Gee and athletic director Gene Smith had staunchly backed their coach in a news conference announcing Tressel's NCAA violations.

"We had the facts as we had them in our first news conference," Gee said in a hallway at the Ohio Statehouse after testifying before a committee regarding a constitutional commission bill. "Those were arrived at very shortly after I had gotten back from China. We'd done the things we had to do and I got off an airplane and was immediately confronted with the issue."

"But the decision made at the time was based on what we knew, number one, and number two, was based upon what was an incredible body of work as the football coach and as a university citizen."

"We have a process at the university in which we do not immediately make decisions. We try to be deliberate and that was the process. Two months later, I think there were a lot of additional facts, and I think there was also the reality that we were facing serious issues. And the coach realized that and made what I think is the best decision on behalf of the university, which was to resign."

Multiple sources have said that Tressel's resignation was not the coach's idea and came at Ohio State's suggestion less than two weeks after Smith had given Tressel another round of public support. It did follow continued negative coverage of the football program and a story in the OSU student newspaper, The Lantern, in which former wide receiver Ray Small alleged that more players received extra benefits from selling memorabilia. It also came just before the release of a Sports Illustrated story that broadened even further the range of potential activity that violated NCAA rules.

"I think there was an accumulation of issues which were very troubling to the university," Gee said when asked specifically about the Lantern and Sports Illustrated stories.


Tressel's separation from Ohio State could help the football program when it faces the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Aug. 12, but Gee claimed that possibility didn't factor into any decision about Tressel's future. And while Gee has said previously the university could have been "more aggressive" in handling Tressel's status, he defended their decisions today.

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Flurry of activity
 
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CBS

Ohio State president: Football woes are temporary

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee told the institution's largest graduating class that a scandal in its celebrated football program is "but a temporary condition."

As Gee opened commencement festivities Sunday for a record 9,700 graduates and about 40,000 family and friends inside Ohio Stadium, he made a veiled reference to the controversy.

"Let me acknowledge on this day of celebration, in this cathedral of triumph and hope, that many Buckeye hearts are heavy," Gee said. "On rare occasion, this great grand building has been home to disappointment and tumult. That is but a temporary condition."
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Gee assured tens of thousands of alumni and supporters of the university, as well as its new graduates, that things will improve. Evoking the memories of great Ohio State athletes of the past, including football's Archie Griffin and track Olympian Jesse Owens, he said: "Let no one harbor any doubt that the history of this place is enduring and sustaining. Ohio Stadium stands today as it will ever more."

The crowd roared and tooted horns.

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An article in ESPN the Magazine.

Of course it mentions the March 8th "I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me" comment, and the "Little Sisters of the Poor" brouhaha, but it's not a character assassination piece. It does take a thinly veiled shot when mentioning that Gee doesn't meet monthly with compliance folks, as some other University Presidents do.

It also quotes Gee as saying that he wanted to fire JT earlier, but some members of the Board wouldn't have gone along with that, so he "privately appointed an internal task force to assess the damage".
 
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maybe this belongs in the Gee thread but a pretty good piece



link



On a layover in Chicago, Gee settled into the American Airlines Admirals Club and called his office to check in. Herb Asher, counselor to the president, dispensed with the usual pleasantries. ?You won?t be happy with this,? Asher started. Then he delivered the bad news.
The football program Gee often referred to as the ?university?s budget running up and down the field? would soon be under N.C.A.A. investigation for apparent rules violations that included players selling memorabilia for cash and tattoos. Worse yet, e-mails that shattered Coach Jim Tressel?s earlier explanation of ignorance had been uncovered in Gee?s absence.
He scheduled a series of meetings for the next day, knowing this threatened to undermine the progress the university had made on other fronts. For all the ways Ohio State could be measured ? its importance to the state?s economy, the $1 billion medical center under construction, its half million living alumni ? Gee believes that even if football revenue represents only one-half of one percent of the total budget, it also garners 90 percent of the attention, an imbalance for which he has spent years trying to exploit and correct.
Until that month, Gee, 67, enjoyed his reputation as an outspoken critic of Division I athletics, as a grand reformer, bespectacled and bow-tied, who once ?declared war? on the culture of college sports. He knew this reputation would collide with the transgressions of the football program, his pleas for change marked hypocritical in the wake of the investigation.
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SI.com

Ohio State's president forgiven by 'Little Sisters'

OREGON, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio State University's president is officially forgiven for turning the Little Sisters of the Poor into a punch line.

Gordon Gee (GEE') caused a stir last November while talking about football and who should get a chance to play for the college title.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he mocked other universities outside the power conferences by saying the Buckeyes didn't play "the Little Sisters of the Poor."
Gee spent Wednesday morning just outside Toledo touring a home for the elderly that's operated by the religious order.
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The nuns say all is forgiven and plan to take up Gee's offer to attend an Ohio State football game this fall.

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I can see the ESPN report after the game the nuns attend:

"Gee hosts several single women from Oregon at Ohio State game - similar to Shapiro hosting strippers and hookers in his luxury box at Miami."
 
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226312.jpg


:slappy:
 
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