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Gene Smith (Former AD, ‘10 AD of the Year, '13 NAAC Organizational Leadership Award)

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CHU;1931390; said:
I like Andy Geiger's statement today to WSYX that when he was AD he had compliance people walk through the parking lot each day and take down tag numbers (for the players' vehicles).

Zing...
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My simultaneous reactions were approval and uneasiness. On the one hand, yay, enforcement. On the other hand, there is something fundamentally wrong with setting up a program that relies on spying on kids to ensure its continual existence. What a freaking mess, the whole shebang.
 
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LiveForPeace;1931357; said:
I find it interesting that few that have posted in this thread have cited specific things they feel Gene Smith did wrong. Any thoughts as to what specifically he did? Most comments illustrate that the people that dislike him do so because that his wife got a job, he's from Notre Dame, the conference realignment non-issue, he "seems" only out for the money, he makes jokes at inopportune times, and he "seems" like he hasn't done much. According to his peers (the people that have his job), the is an extraordinary AD (hence AD of the year). It's not like he goes up to his office and twiddles his thumbs and calls coach tress to handle the numerous other varsity sports at the university (at least I don't think he does) So again, what specifically warrants his leave from the university? I feel that it is quite possible that a head coach (Coach Tress) and an AD (Gene smith) have no idea about what the players do throughout the day. With that said, I believe that it reflects poorly on the AD if your head coach doesn't tell you certain things. I also feel that he handled the initial press conference poorly. I still think we are lucky to have Gene Smith, but the media sensationalization of the "scandal' coupled with the hurt from losing coach Tress makes people want to get rid of Gee and Gene Smith. GO BUCKS!!!
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I HAD no beef with Gene Smith until this year. The fact of the matter is that he is the "CEO" of the athletic department. A department as large as OSU has separation of duties so that each department can specialize on a different aspect of running the department. Tressel is the head coach. His responsibilities revolved around recruiting, strategy and coaching young men. He should be able to depend on the compliance department to keep up with things such as cars and tattoos. He shouldn't have to do that. IMO this is the part you are missing. OSU has a massive compliance department whose job it is to monitor athletes and their cars, housing, jobs etc. They failed miserably. At my job, I don't have to worry about certain aspects of our business because we have a different department for each of them. The failure of compliance resides on the head of that department (Doug Archie) and ultimately on Gene Smith.

That in and of itself is grounds for dismissal. Now throw in the shit show of a press conference, no damage control, and there is no way you keep him around, IMO.
 
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Deety;1931633; said:
You can be Senior Moderator of the month if you want.

Bonus: June 30 Cage Fight.
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I figured the Senior Moderator got a free rascal to roll about town.

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Looking dapper, good sir.

edit: Should make for an interesting cage fight. Especially if he gets caught in the corner.
 
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muffler dragon;1931446; said:
Do you believe that Mike Garrett should have been retained at USC?
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I don't really follow USC so I'm sure I have a skewed perspective on the matter. With that said, I think USC issues coupled with Reggie Bush receiving $150,000 is a lot worse than OSU players selling personal items and receiving discounted tattoos. If I remember correctly I thought Garrett's failures at USC were based on the fact that he was not well respected by his peers for doing excellent work, and he was not a good fit at USC. Bottom line, the violations at USC (150,000 and LoIC) necessitated that the coach and AD depart. In the OSU case, I don't believe Coach Tress should have had to leave. Thus, I don't think our AD should leave.
 
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fourteenandoh;1931562; said:
I HAD no beef with Gene Smith until this year. The fact of the matter is that he is the "CEO" of the athletic department. A department as large as OSU has separation of duties so that each department can specialize on a different aspect of running the department. Tressel is the head coach. His responsibilities revolved around recruiting, strategy and coaching young men. He should be able to depend on the compliance department to keep up with things such as cars and tattoos. He shouldn't have to do that. IMO this is the part you are missing. OSU has a massive compliance department whose job it is to monitor athletes and their cars, housing, jobs etc. They failed miserably. At my job, I don't have to worry about certain aspects of our business because we have a different department for each of them. The failure of compliance resides on the head of that department (Doug Archie) and ultimately on Gene Smith.

That in and of itself is grounds for dismissal. Now throw in the [Mark May] show of a press conference, no damage control, and there is no way you keep him around, IMO.
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That's a fair assessment. I only disagree in regards to his dismissal because I don't believe mishandling a press conference(s), and the failure of the compliance dept. in this circumstance is cause for dismissal. Would another AD have stopped players from selling rings to a tattoo parlor owner? I tend to think not. I also remember our AD receiving recognition from his peers for making OSU's compliance department one of the best in the country by instituting policies and initiatives in response to some of the compliance issues in the Geiger era. However, I can see how all of the violations could reflect poorly on the head of the dept. Whether that is cause for dismissal is yet to be seen. The only thing I know is that this environment of uncertainty and sadness really stinks. I can't wait until football season.
 
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I think Gene Smith is a good man; however, it appears to me that he just may be "in over his head" with this job. My guess is he is a classic example of The Peter Principle". Ever read this book?

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The Peter Principle: In any hierarchy any employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence. The underlying explanation, which makes immediate intuitive sense to nearly everyone I've talked to about it, is that people are promoted for being good at their job. As long as they're doing a good job, they're eligible for promotion. Eventually, they're promoted into a job that they're incapable of doing, and then they no longer do a good enough job to get promoted. So there they stop, in the first job that's outside their level of competence.

:osu:
 
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MaxBuck;1931567; said:
:lol:

Brave man to admit that. Next thing you know, I'll be discussing my ED problem on the HHG forum.

Oh, wait ...
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No worries. We've all known for a while that your Buckeye pseudonym was over compensation. :wink:

LiveForPeace;1931673; said:
I don't really follow USC so I'm sure I have a skewed perspective on the matter. With that said, I think USC issues coupled with Reggie Bush receiving $150,000 is a lot worse than OSU players selling personal items and receiving discounted tattoos. If I remember correctly I thought Garrett's failures at USC were based on the fact that he was not well respected by his peers for doing excellent work, and he was not a good fit at USC. Bottom line, the violations at USC (150,000 and LoIC) necessitated that the coach and AD depart. In the OSU case, I don't believe Coach Tress should have had to leave. Thus, I don't think our AD should leave.
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IMO, your placing gradiants instead of deeming the situations like. Furthermore, IF we receive similar sanctions to what USC received, THEN I find the substantiation for your POV to be even less. I'll gladly be wrong, but when the captain of the entire ship fails at his job (regardless of degree), then there is a short window for looking for someone who can right it.
 
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I just think you see true leadership during times of crisis. I think this qualifies as a crisis.

There is a current investigation and it was a holiday, but Gene Smith is really being attacked for a YouTube message (which could be justified). I don't know if that's leadership or a cop out.

On the other hand, this administration isn't having too much success with press conferences (maybe they know that).
 
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LiveForPeace;1931677; said:
That's a fair assessment. I only disagree in regards to his dismissal because I don't believe mishandling a press conference(s), and the failure of the compliance dept. in this circumstance is cause for dismissal. Would another AD have stopped players from selling rings to a tattoo parlor owner? I tend to think not. I also remember our AD receiving recognition from his peers for making OSU's compliance department one of the best in the country by instituting policies and initiatives in response to some of the compliance issues in the Geiger era. However, I can see how all of the violations could reflect poorly on the head of the dept. Whether that is cause for dismissal is yet to be seen. The only thing I know is that this environment of uncertainty and sadness really stinks. I can't wait until football season.
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when random students are asking each other how these guys are driving the cars they are driving, something is very wrong. it is almost as if our entire compliance dept (which, i believe, is one of the largest in the nation) did not exist. what's the point of having such great infrastructure, if you can't properly execute its use? it may as well not even exist! that is not a failure of JT, it is a failure of GS.
 
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