• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Kristina Johnson (OSU President)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes


USC and UCLA shocked the college athletics world on June 30 when the schools submitted their official applications to become members of the Big Ten.

In a changing landscape that has caused many to speculate about a future of super conferences and football-only leagues, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and University President Kristina M. Johnson reassured the school’s Olympic sports and the addition of the Trojans and Bruins’ athletic programs was for them, too.

“USC and UCLA are storied (athletic) programs,” Johnson said. “I think the Olympic sports, and we clearly care about all these sports, I think the opportunity to compete with people that are on top of the game is huge. The distance is something we will have to figure out. We will have to figure out a structure to optimize the opportunity to compete but minimize the challenge of travel.”

Johnson said traveling for games and competitions has been an issue for national athletic programs since she was a field hockey player at Stanford in the 1970s. Her main focus as Ohio State’s president will be to continue ensuring that the university’s student-athletes receive ample resources to help them succeed in the classroom despite future cross-country flights to California.

“It’s been an issue since I was a student-athlete,” Johnson said. “There would be road games where we’d be away from two or three days having to come back and sit in an optical network and circuits final. But our student-athletes are committed to the academic mission as well. It’s something we are sensitive about, and we will continue to apply those same ideas about how the students can succeed in the classroom as well.”
 
Upvote 0
President Johnson is the first OSU president in several decades that clearly supports tOSU sports, and mainstream tOSU football. Gordon Gee (bless his bow-tied heart), supported football by staying out of the way, while the last guy, from UC-Irvine, openly disdained football (UCI doesn't play football, but has a very mean volleyball team). Maybe it's because she was a college scholarship athlete that makes this so, but I'd bet vcash that she'd be in front of a Music Dept, Law School, Dent school, etc event as well. As President, her job is to be a cheerleader for all of tOSU, and methinks she does it pretty well. Hope we hold on to her for more than a cup of coffee. go Bucks!
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top