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

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list of things handled poorly: very long
list of things handled properly: very short

the big press conference - too many mistakes to list
the smaller press conferences and creating bigger scenes for smaller things
Fickell's introduction
The heavy support for Tressel, followed by throwing him under the bus when nothing changed besides the si story. One or the other is a way to handle it, not both.

Smith did not create the mess, but he definitely brought even more attention and light to it.
 
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HINYG8;2019233; said:
I don't believe I ever suggested he did those things. But step back and look at the 'magnitude' of those events and ask yourself if the buzz or the price we have paid seems appropriate given the nature of the actual violations.

My point is EXACTLY the last 7 words of your comment. His post...his responsibility.. his title, his job and the reason he makes a good amount of coin: and this mess has been allowed to burn rampant under his watch.

Isn't it his job to manage the circumstances, perception, and bring control to the situation? I think so...and IMO he has botched that beyond repair. The notion that he is responsible for keeping LOIC or FTM out of the NOA seems foolish to me..as IMO the only reason they are even being mentioned by anyone is because of how he has responded. Trinkets for tats is hardly cause for FTM or LOIC. Nor are the other tic tac events. It has been a comedy of errors from the administration, IMO, that has anyone whispering about FTM or LOIC rather than the actual nature or even frequency of the violations.

Publicly we clearly rolled over and were flogged. Behind the scenes FTM and LOIC, IMO, should never have been on the table..yet here we are holding our breath for the final decision and truly embarrassed about our program. Maybe I have a different view of the AD's job than I should..but to me he is responsible for making sure neither the public or the NCAA sharpens their knives on the athletics of my alma matter.
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I fully agree. Arguing that Smith has handled this well simply because OSU wasn't charged with violations the school didn't commit is like arguing that Bill Martin handled the Michigan coaching search correctly, because hey -- they did hire a coach, right? What's the big deal?

Contrast this to Andy Geiger's dealing with the MoC and Troy Smith situations, which was both more serious and a deeper investigation by the NCAA. Contrast the press releases, the press conferences and the overall PR damage to the football program and the university as a whole. Consider how Geiger would have handled things differently than Gene Smith has.

Could Smith have done worse? Certainly. He also could have done a number of things vastly better.
 
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Magua;2019238; said:
Uhh, sanction wise we really haven't been hit with much of anything. And you can't blame the magnitude of the buzz on Gene Smith IMO - ESPN however is another matter.

We're THE Ohio State University. EVERYTHING we do is going to generate buzz magnified far more than Holy Sisters of the Blind and Poor.
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Sanction wise IMO the suspensions have been longer than need be. We also jettisoned JT and vacated an entire season. And of course there is the impact to our reputation and the perception of the program and the univeristy. And yes, I can blame Gene Smith for that..it is his job.

There is a difference between a buzz and a roar. Do you really think Gene handed the situation as best as possible and without his excellent plan of response the buzz and the sanctions (so far) would have been even bigger? If ESPN was wrong then he should have taken steps to shut them up or get them to check their facts. It didn't have to be public.

And lets look around the country at some other BIG NAMES that are under scrutiny but no one is talking about them. Miami..Holy CRAP...that mess is like a pulp fiction novel..and their time is coming, but the story has already vanished from the press. Why is that? It certainly isn't because Miami isn't news worthy. Auburn...not much buzz at all AND they rec'd the get out of jail free card. You think there are not football players there getting a few extra bucks? You think there aren't some nice cars in the lot being driven by players with less than solid family finances supporting them? Please..but not one whisper about any infractions beyond Cam. Does anyone know if the NCAA is still looking into Oregon? ESPN isn't reminding me...why not?

The initial press conference was a train wreck.

His absolute support of JT was a train wreck.

The suspensions have been long and frequent.

It took the media and the BoT to pressure JT out of his job.

The press conference to announce Posey, Hall, and and Herron's add'l suspension was like unnecessarily throwing gasoline on the fire IMO.

The handling of Fick in the beginning was a train wreck.

I just don't see what he has done that has improved the situation or reduced the buzz.

I get that OSU is a huge name and we are going to get more attention than most...but that doesn't mean Gene has contained it well. IMO he has made it even worse with his actions and statements.

I mean no disrespect to those that disagree with me but I just don't see proof that he has done anything to avert LOIC or FTM charges because they are simply not warranted. He didn't avert them..I don't think they were or should have been in play for what has transpired so far. The NCAA agreed the BIGGIE and only major violation started and ended with JT..so FTM and LOIC are off the table. And as a consequence JT is rightfully gone. If anything Gene's complete public support of JT as the coach going forward hurt far more than it helped IMO...as have his various press conferences and the 'strategy' on this since it first occured.
 
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jwinslow;2019246; said:
list of things handled poorly: very long
list of things handled properly: very short

the big press conference - too many mistakes to list
the smaller press conferences and creating bigger scenes for smaller things
Fickell's introduction
The heavy support for Tressel, followed by throwing him under the bus when nothing changed besides the si story. One or the other is a way to handle it, not both.

Smith did not create the mess, but he definitely brought even more attention and light to it.
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You say this like Les Wexner and his money are trivial to the university. That did change with the advent of the SI story.
 
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HINYG8;2019147; said:
I can't agree.

We lost Tressel. We lost 2010. We lost Pryor. We lost Posey for most of the season. We lost many others for large portions of the season. We took a beating in the press. The NCAA was trying to leave town but couldn't because we kept tapping them on the shoulder and giving them *another* reason to stay in town.

I personally don't see anything Gene has done that makes us LUCKY to have him..but I certainly see the press conference and the violation-a-week-machine that he built and his absolute statements about keeping Tressel as HUGE negatives. The suspensions each seemed to be at least one game longer than warranted given events at other schools. The press has been a nightmare and handled incredibly poorly.

Forgive me, but I just don't feel lucky every time I see Gene Smith like I used to feel about seeing Andy Geiger.
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Suspend the AD's paycheck while there are suspended players... Dollars to donuts we don't have any problems. I honestly feel like GS got lazy here. I hope the next AD takes the compliance responsibility to heart. No compliance issues... No bad pressers. Problem solved.
 
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sparcboxbuck;2019321; said:
Suspend the AD's paycheck while there are suspended players... Dollars to donuts we don't have any problems. I honestly feel like GS got lazy here. I hope the next AD takes the compliance responsibility to heart. No compliance issues... No bad pressers. Problem solved.
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Ummm he does, maybe to his own detriment.

Every AD will eventually have compliance issues. Unless Gene Smith is going to babysit every single adult-aged manchild in the program, you're high if you are placing ALL of the compliance crap - especially the individual issues on the players - on his doorstep..
 
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Buckeye Maniac;2019340; said:
I don't know exactly what it is, but it's some council or board having to do with athletics that my step-grandmother is on.
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Sounds like the athletics council, but they are more advisory in this regard and decisions about the AD would be made by Gee and the Board of Trustees.
 
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BuckeyeMike80;2019324; said:
Ummm he does, maybe to his own detriment.

Every AD will eventually have compliance issues. Unless Gene Smith is going to babysit every single adult-aged manchild in the program, you're high if you are placing ALL of the compliance crap - especially the individual issues on the players - on his doorstep..
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I think there have been vast reported differences between the things that AG did to monitor potential compliance issues and what GS has done. Beyond that the verbal performance reviews of JT personally raise my eyebrows.

Now, I'm not going to say that this is what happened intentionally, but verbal reviews leave a lot of room for things to slip through the cracks... Intentional or not, the fact that this stuff wasn't documented really bothers me. Honestly, it leaves me to believe that GS was well aware of some of these compliance issues existed... Just like our fallen coach...

Can he be personally responsible? No more than JT, and he's in the Colt's booth on Sunday's looking at replays.
 
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sparcboxbuck;2019321; said:
Suspend the AD's paycheck while there are suspended players... Dollars to donuts we don't have any problems.
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Or kids know they wont get suspended because the AD doesn't want to have his paycheck suspended and thus will flat out do what they please.
 
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