Rick Bay (Former OSU Athletic Director)

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Former OSU Athletic Director Rick Bay dealt with problems the right way: Bill Livingston
Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer
February 22, 2013

Ohio State University head coach Earle Bruce is carried from the field on the shoulders of his players after Ohio State defeated Michigan 14-9 in Ann Arbor, Mich., in this Nov. 21, 1981 file photo. In 1987, athletic director Rick Bay resigned rather than take part in Bruce's firing. Associated Press

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- B?efore the forced resignation in 2011 of Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, Earle Bruce had been fired a generation earlier amid great controversy. Tressel had lied to the NCAA, albeit about something no more substantial than tattoos. Bruce won a lot of games, just not enough.

Before five OSU star players who had been implicated in the tattoos scandal were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl, future Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter had been suspended in 1987 for taking money from an agent, then lying about it.

The tainted victory over Arkansas and Ohio State?s reluctance to fire its iconic coach allowed Tressel to remain in his post until he was ousted on Memorial Day, 2011. Carter?s season-long suspension led directly to a poor record by Ohio State?s standards and Bruce?s firing before the Michigan game.

In Tressel?s wake, interim coach Luke Fickell managed only a 6-7 record in 2011. In Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1987, Bruce's players donned headbands that read ?Earle,? defeated the Wolverines, 23-20, and carried him off the field on their shoulders to conclude a 6-4-1 season. Afterward Buckeye players awarded Athletic Director Rick Bay a game ball.

Before current Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith dealt with the tattoos scandal and the Sugar Bowl game against Arkansas (an OSU victory that was later ?vacated? by the NCAA), Bay stood firm in his suspension of Carter for lying and resigned rather than fire Bruce.

Bay has now self-published his memoirs, ?From the Buckeyes to the Bronx,? dealing with his Ohio State years and his 100 uncomfortable days of working for George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees. The book is worth a read for Ohio State fans.

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http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2013/02/former_osu_athletic_director_r.html

Bob Hunter commentary: Bay?s book a captivating look inside Ohio State athletics
By Bob Hunter
The Columbus Dispatch?Friday February 22, 2013

Rick Bay has written a book, mostly about his days as Ohio State athletic director and as New York Yankees president working for George Steinbrenner. A lot of it reads like ancient history, but that makes it no less fascinating.

College athletic directors rarely offer inside looks at their schools, and Bay probably wouldn?t have done it if his relatively brief four-year term at Ohio State hadn?t ended 25 years ago. But to this day, Bay remains a man most of us would like to be, one who is willing to walk away from a prestigious job as a matter of principle and still not too proud to admit that it was the best job he ever had.

His rehash of his Ohio State days in From the Buckeyes to the Bronx ? available at his website, thebaywatch.com ? attests to his love for the job and Columbus, and it also offers a privileged peek at some of the lunacy and arrogance within the university.

Bay is best remembered for resigning after university president Ed Jennings fired football coach Earle Bruce before the Michigan game in 1987, and Bay?s account of those events and the accompanying rumors and innuendo is still interesting. But even now he admits that he doesn?t know why it happened.

?As to the specific reasons Earle was fired, no one ever told me, and it might have been because no one really knew,? he wrote.

But when it happened, Bay said he told Bruce that he knew he had to quit as AD.?I didn?t do it for you, coach,? Bay said. ?I did it for me.?

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http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/con...-a-captivating-look-inside-osu-athletics.html

 

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