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

[jlb1705]

To this day, I do not understand what the issue with Gee's remarks was.
ESPiN -- and the entire college football community -- makes the same comments about "little sisters of the poor".
His comments about ND were also obviously in jest; not serious. I never got the impression he actually had a dislike of Catholics from either of those quotes.
Also not sure if a closed-door B10 meeting counts as "public"? I mean, the whole point of that speech was to talk a little trash about some other schools and build camaraderie among member institutions. He's pretty much dead on anyway. ND isn't a fit b/c they're a private religious institution... whereas the raison d'etre for the Big/CIC, from an academic standpoint, is Research. ND would neither benefit nor contribute much in that regard.

I don't really disagree with you where it concerns his comments. It's clear they were in jest and there was some truth in them. The biggest problem is that he's paid to lead a university not to tell jokes, and he was far too candid in his comments.

To me it's not too different from a President of the US telling a joke about France. It would probably be kinda funny and it would probably have a bit of truth to it, but it's also beneath the office.

 

[RB07OSU]

I take exception with the phrase "fell on their swords". To me that implies that they took punishment that wasn't warranted for the sake of protecting somebody else. The people you identified as doing such were documented to have lied to the NCAA and made pubilc off-color remarks, respectively. Please let us not compare the three because the two men who resigned did so over improprieties, not over incompetencies. Even if one concedes that Smith has been incompetent, that is a whole other level of distinction from what cost Tressel and Gee their jobs.

Also, does anybody here want the trustees basing their decisions on whether or not somebody gets booed at a game? That would be a terrible way to oversee this sort of enterprise.

I do when their basis for doing so is completely justified. And I won't pretend JT and Gee had no fault in their respective cases, I am just saying I think they took a much bigger fall than they needed to while Gene Smith got a complete pass. JT and Gee (more arguable on Gee) made isolated mistakes against the backdrop of an outstanding body of work and integrity. Gene Smith's entire body of work is utter incompetence mixed in with a few meaningless awards and somehow not getting caught in the whole JT debacle. Just hard to understand how he still has a job as an AD anywhere, let alone here.

 

[jlb1705]

I do when their basis for doing so is completely justified. And I won't pretend JT and Gee had no fault in their respective cases, I am just saying I think they took a much bigger fall than they needed to while Gene Smith got a complete pass. JT and Gee (more arguable on Gee) made isolated mistakes against the backdrop of an outstanding body of work and integrity. Gene Smith's entire body of work is utter incompetence mixed in with a few meaningless awards and somehow not getting caught in the whole JT debacle. Just hard to understand how he still has a job as an AD anywhere, let alone here.

Besides being terrible at press conferences, what has he gotten a pass for? What were his violations in the NCAA case? What did he do that led to him not getting what you think he deserved?

You used an interesting phrase there... "JT debacle". It was the "JT debacle" because it was HIS debacle. Gene Smith didn't commit any violations - either proven or alleged. All evidence points to the opposite - that upon discovery of the violations by Tressel, Smith and his athletic department took the necessary steps to self-report it to the NCAA. If it had involved Gene Smith then it wouldn't be referred to as JT debacle; it wouldn't even be referred to as a Gene Smith debacle. It would have been an Ohio State debacle and a very bad ordeal through which we still wouldn't be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

JT recieved a show-cause penalty from the NCAA and received a very generous severance package. He couldn't have taken any less of a fall than he did from the university.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

I take exception with the phrase "fell on their swords". To me that implies that they took punishment that wasn't warranted for the sake of protecting somebody else. The people you identified as doing such were documented to have lied to the NCAA and made pubilc off-color remarks, respectively. Please let us not compare the three because the two men who resigned did so over improprieties, not over incompetencies. Even if one concedes that Smith has been incompetent, that is a whole other level of distinction from what cost Tressel and Gee their jobs.

Also, does anybody here want the trustees basing their decisions on whether or not somebody gets booed at a game? That would be a terrible way to oversee this sort of enterprise.

No fan of Smith as has been dutifully recorded, but I fully agree with this. The only swords that JT and Gee fell on were the ones borne of their own galactic fucking of the pooch.

 

[kujirakira]

I don't really disagree with you where it concerns his comments. It's clear they were in jest and there was some truth in them. The biggest problem is that he's paid to lead a university not to tell jokes, and he was far too candid in his comments.

To me it's not too different from a President of the US telling a joke about France. It would probably be kinda funny and it would probably have a bit of truth to it, but it's also beneath the office.

I would happily welcome a PotUS that makes jokes about cheese-eating surrender monkeys. I'd throw in the Italians for good measure too.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Not a single article on the athletic department's web page about Buckeyes in the Winter Olympics.

They must all be hockey players, and GS doesn't feel the need to promote anything to do with hockey.

 

[BuckBackHome]

How do I ding ORD for posting in this thread when it is not a story about GS being canned? Anyone??? (sarcasm font) Those are the only updates I want to read about him.

 

[LitlBuck]

I cannot believe that no one has posted this @ORD_Buckeye I know that coaches get bonuses for winning Conference and National championship but for an AD to get a bonus because of athlete won a national championship is just mind-boggling.
Ohio State AD Gene Smith's $18,000 bonus for Logan Stieber's NCAA wrestling title doesn't seem to go over very well
From the article

He could make six weeks extra salary for a team national title in football or men's basketball. He could make two weeks extra salary for other team sports titles.

But this is the one that seems to grind people - he gets a week of bonus pay for an individual national title by an athlete. That's more than $18,000. So when Logan Stieber won his third NCAA wrestling title on Sunday, Smith's bonus kicked in.

Here is Smith's full new contract.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

I cannot believe that no one has posted this @ORD_Buckeye I know that coaches get bonuses for winning Conference and National championship but for an AD to get a bonus because of athlete won a national championship is just mind-boggling.
Ohio State AD Gene Smith's $18,000 bonus for Logan Stieber's NCAA wrestling title doesn't seem to go over very well
From the article

I heard that on the radio yesterday... shameful... really shameful, maybe this will be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back with him?

 

[scooter1369]

He's not the only AD out there getting these bonuses. I think I saw yesterday that Arizona or ASU's AD gets a five digit bonus if someone places in the top five nationally. Not even a title. Top 5.

 

[BayBuck]

I cannot believe that no one has posted this @ORD_Buckeye I know that coaches get bonuses for winning Conference and National championship but for an AD to get a bonus because of athlete won a national championship is just mind-boggling.
Ohio State AD Gene Smith's $18,000 bonus for Logan Stieber's NCAA wrestling title doesn't seem to go over very well
From the article

So it sounds like he probably also got the $36K for the pistol team winning their NC last week? But I understand that this story pretty much writes itself for the sports-advocacy media who are so obsessed with getting college athletes paid: the solitary wrestler putting in the hours, the fat cat AD throwing another wad of cash onto the pile, O the unfairness and disparity!

This is simply the nature of big contracts at universities and their athletic departments, to tie a big chunk of it to performance bonuses. Seems like a pretty good incentive for Smith to have a stake in the success of all OSU's sports programs, big and small.

Also seems like $18K is a pretty petty amount to carp about now, considering the contract that includes $900K in base salary was finalized months ago, and the details were in the papers then. But No! Just think of that poor Stieber boy... for shame.

 

[jwinslow]

There are many shameful things to discuss in this thread. This is not a very persuasive one.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

So it sounds like he probably also got the $36K for the pistol team winning their NC last week? But I understand that this story pretty much writes itself for the sports-advocacy media who are so obsessed with getting college athletes paid: the solitary wrestler putting in the hours, the fat cat AD throwing another wad of cash onto the pile, O the unfairness and disparity!

This is simply the nature of big contracts at universities and their athletic departments, to tie a big chunk of it to performance bonuses. Seems like a pretty good incentive for Smith to have a stake in the success of all OSU's sports programs, big and small.

Also seems like $18K is a pretty petty amount to carp about now, considering the contract that includes $900K in base salary was finalized months ago, and the details were in the papers then. But No! Just think of that poor Stieber boy... for shame.

I definitely see your point, it happens all the time with CEOs etc. Just my feelings for gene as our AD kinda clouded my response

There are many shameful things to discuss in this thread. This is not a very persuasive one.

True. Overstated my feelings on this a bit i guess.

 

[jwinslow]

18k for Gene is like $800 for a person making $40k, possibly less when considering that bonuses and perks are a given with that job and sporadic at best for a 40k employee.

 

[HineyBuck]

Hope he sent a thank you note to Logan. Hope he was careful, however, not to send Logan anything of value that might jeopardize his eligibility.