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Q&A: Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith
'It's not just about winning games'
Sunday, June 15, 2008 3:53 AM
Neal C. Lauron DISPATCH
Gene Smith and his staff have outlined a specific set of goals for each sport, including graduation rates and the number of community service hours athletes should provide.
Gene Smith, starting his fourth year as athletic director at Ohio State, recently received one of his profession's higher honors, the John Toner Award, from the National Football Foundation.
Named after the former University of Connecticut athletic director and NCAA president, it goes annually to an athletic director "who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football."
But Smith, along with OSU President E. Gordon Gee, wants to push the athletic director position beyond simply athletics. It's one reason Smith expressed no interest when the position opened two weeks ago at Notre Dame, his alma mater. "I am very happy being at the Ohio State University and am excited about its new leadership of the university," he said.
Smith recently sat down with The Dispatch's Tim May to discuss recent developments and strategies.
Question: What did it mean to you to win the John Toner Award?
Answer: I will never forget -- 1984, I'm sitting in a meeting with NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics) officials, and John Toner and Bill Flynn, two great athletic directors. When I'd sit in those meetings, almost everything (Toner) said I wrote down. I was a young athletic administrator and I was learning. I mean, the guy is a stud. To have my name associated with his in any way is a huge honor. And this award caused me to reflect on the people I've worked with every day -- not just here, but everywhere I've been. I don't think it is recognition for a single year, (but) for what's been accomplished over time.
Q: When you walked into Ohio State, you opted not to sweep the athletic administration ranks of those loyal to your predecessor, Andy Geiger. You did shuffle some jobs the past three years and brought in a few new faces, but there was no wholesale purge.
A: That's my leadership style. Everyone knows I had a lot of respect for Andy, so I knew he had good people here. I needed to organize them to fit my style. We went through that first year, assessing people and situations. And we had a few fires when I got here. The NCAA investigation (of the men's basketball and football programs) was bigger than what most people realize relative to time and the commitment it needed to get the outcome we got.
But in the second year I was able to organize and start the process of the strategic plan. It was easy to do, though, because of the people here and their values. In an organization as large as this, if you have people whose values are not aligned, you are going to have trouble creating a culture. We have a culture right now of collaboration, communication and innovation, the things most corporations would enjoy having. That's why we're on this trajectory, because 319 people have bought into the vision.
BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Gene Smith: 'It's not just about winning games'
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