Ross Bjork (OSU AD)

[osuvictory1]

I know the negative sentiment, and I like other share concerns. However, many fans have been arguing that under Gene Smith, OSU has fallen behind on NIL and fundraising.

I think if Bjork isn't answering to the "cowboy" culture, and SEC craziness, he can come to OSU with a perspective that allows some of the best things about a SEC/Texas based AD, and apply what fits OSU.

Arguably OSU needs help in modernizing it's culture. Smith is a legendary AD, but his careful conservativeness, especially propping up all the various sports that OSU football is kind of funding.

I think this AD may be able to steer OSU through the new kind of professional landscape that is modern CFB.

However, there needs to be parameters in place that doesn't make OSU susceptible to the turmoil that plagues SEC/ACC programs trying to make a mark.

Maybe Bjork is actually able to fly in a relevant Cadillac powerhouse.

 

[pnuts34]

From a reputable poster over on Rivals(he's been quite spot on over the years when it comes to OSU football):

This is a very rare instance where I actually know the person in question: Ross's reputation behind closed doors among university leadership is markedly different than the crazy, petulant, ridiculousness that you're going to hear from the TexAgs frequent poster crowd. Holding Ross accountable for the peccadillos of Hugh Freeze is analogous to holding Gene responsible for Zach Smith. Sure, the buck stops at his desk - but these are professional people and their tasking does not extend to managing personal lives. (IMO). His problem at A&M is the shadow regime of donors that serve as de facto player personnel directors and would be ADs. It's an impossible job. The donors forced that Jimbo extension out of desperation and panic - that wasn't Ross's sole decision. In the AD world, most people will tell you that Ross inherited a disaster wrapped in a catastrophe of mismanagement from Scott Woodward. I'm not saying that Ross is great - I am saying that he is at least good.

We're at a moment of inflection when we need to decide what we want to be. We're heading toward the Premier League model. Do we want to retain standing as a King? Or are we OK playing the role of the Prince? To me, this is a sign that we're committing to unapologetically retaining excellence at football. Ross knows that this is a serious upgrade for him in every sense of the opportunity. And, while the playing field is his focus, look at A&M when it comes to APR and GSR during his tenure. If you're going to consider his A&M experience, then also consider his UCLA and Miami experience. He was very well thought of by the administrations at both of those previous stops - and they both have strong, highly-competitive academic programs.

We bitch and moan about Gene (who I love, but who is also very conservative and deliberate) and his ability to evolve amidst revolution. So, now we're going to complain about a guy with a world of experience and very strong reputation among administrators who is absolutely going to ensure that we have every resource at our disposal? I think we need to decide who we want to be and move forward with a bias toward support.

 

[Thump]

From a reputable poster over on Rivals(he's been quite spot on over the years when it comes to OSU football):

Does OSU consider getting rid of non-revenue sports?

Heard on radio that Nuremberg has 17 sports and we have 36.

 

[pnuts34]

Does OSU consider getting rid of non-revenue sports?

Heard on radio that Nuremberg has 17 sports and we have 36.

Regarding that matter, I just happened to see this post from the same poster:

Ohio State is singularly odd in that it is both (a) an absolute giant; and (b) an underperforming sleeping giant. I'd recommend separating the university/academic/medical development and Office of Advancement functions from those of the athletic department. IMO, the AD has struggled to evolve to meet current market conditions. They've been long calibrated to the long cultivational arcs with donors who endow positions and put their names on facilities - and this is very important. Objectively, they have lagged behind the current Best in Class when it comes to streamlining corporate and large donor participation in specific sports programs. I like a lot of the people in the AD...and I also recognize that some of their skill sets lean toward paper pushing. The culture is very cautious - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they definitely miss out on opportunities with sophisticated individuals and entities that have little tolerance for undue deliberation and red tape.

Reputationally, Ohio State AD is viewed as this massive octopus with increasingly uncoordinated tentacles that lacks agility and depth of expertise in emerging areas. Don't get me wrong - it's still Ohio State and it can simply overwhelm many of its potential shortcomings. But the fact of the matter in the contemporary landscape is that the processes attendant to running a NFL franchise are very different from the processes of administrating a student-athlete experience for the Olympic sports. Ohio State has seven full-time, dedicated staff with the words "Athletic Director" (be it Deputy, Executive, Associate, Assistant) in their professional title. I think that the Ross Bjork hiring signals a structural transition that supports the effective (and, in my view, appropriate) bifurcation of programs whereby we can stop winking and nodding our way through treating football and men's BB as requiring the same administrative expertise and skill sets as do the balance of the operation. Ross is going to be the CEO/President of the revenue sports. The massive squad of other ADs will focus on the day-to-day administration of the non-revenue sports.

Overall, Ohio State is excellent a fundraising at the university/academic/medical level and good (not very good, certainly not excellent) when it comes to fundraising supported by its athletic department. Bjork's reputation is as one of the best fundraisers (if not THE best fundraiser) in the market today. And, it's not just A&M - he really helped Ole Miss, UCLA, and Miami (the last two being notoriously difficult places to make the finances work) ascend their fundraising apparatus. I think that Ross has a chance to move Ohio State from good to great when it comes to its athletic department's fundraising prowess.

 

[Thump]

I assume a new Woody is on the horizon.

I know there have been numerous upgrades but it has been around since the 90’s.

I remember when it said “Leo Yassenoff” field inside when I’d go there for baseball camp.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Just to see what the jizz jar lovers are saying, I put on my MOPP gear and ventured over to Texags....

The reaction is interesting to say the least....

Bjork to Ohio state [??] | TexAgs

Bjork to Ohio state [??] discussion on the TexAgs Texas A&M Football forum.

texags.com

A lot of stupid but some occasional light. He's almost there. 1. You are not and never have been anything close to a blueblood. 2. You have an utterly dysfunctional booster culture that makes Texas look like Middlebury. 3. You are just a weird ass place that turns off many (particularly black) recruits, and even that NIL truck you backed up a couple of years ago couldn't paper over your utter fucking weirdness.

Take the past 25 years and subtract the folks that have not been involved with TAMU Athletics during that time.

Those guys, like Fran, Sherman, Sumlin, Fisher, Bjork, etc. They are faces and not the ones responsible.

There are common denominators over the past 25 years. We keep plugging in new people but keep seeing the exact same thing.

 

[BuckBackHome]

Has he gotten us Downs yet?

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Ohio State tabs Ross Bjork as athletic director

For just the second time since 1994, Ohio State will have a new athletic director. The school has tabbed Ross Bjork to lead its athletics department. Bjork, 51, will take over for Gene Smith who announced his retirement last month.

247sports.com

Ohio State tabs Ross Bjork as athletic director​

For just the second time since 1994, Ohio State will have a new athletic director. The school has tabbed Ross Bjork to lead its athletics department. Bjork, 51, will take over for Gene Smith who announced his retirement last month.​

Quick analysis (by Steve Wilfong, Director Of Recruiting for 247Sports)

I like this hire. Ohio State needed a football guy who knows how to raise a lot of money leading its athletic department. Check and check. Bjork is known to be very proactive on the NIL front, something Smith shied away from to some degree. The Buckeyes absolutely needed an AD who would embrace the new world of NIL.

The one big complaint I’ve heard from fans about Bjork was that, while he did not hire Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M, he is the one who gave him a massive contract extension. (Bjork fired Fisher after the 2023 season and hired Mike Elko.)

On the surface, very fair complaint. However, from all accounts, boosters are the ones who make those decisions at Texas A&M. Yes, boosters are powerful regardless of what Power 5 football program you are speaking of. But the Aggies take it to another level. The Athletic (paywall) did a fantastic story on this heading into the 2023 college football season. Check out this excerpt:

Actually, that's never been the case here. Quick: name our largest athletic donors? It goes back to the culture that Woody installed where he kept them at arm's length: "they'll buy the Cadillac one year and a tank of gas to get out of town the next." For decades, the university has made a conscious decision to base athletic fundraising on thousands of 4 and 5 figure donations while cultivating the really big donations for the academic side. The AD just received its first and only 8 figure donation (and just barely at 10M) a couple of years ago. The academic side gets a few of those every year. And when boosters do get out of line (the guy who gave TS $500 or the guy in Cleveland who was giving out the no-show jobs) we'll disassociate from them in a minute.

We're also the only big football school where you can qualify for season tickets by donating to the academic side (Presidents Club level or above) rather than solely to the Buckeye Club.

 

[dragurd]

I assume a new Woody is on the horizon.

I know there have been numerous upgrades but it has been around since the 90’s.

I remember when it said “Leo Yassenoff” field inside when I’d go there for baseball camp.

I should have gone for baseball camp I went for football camp one year. Was a blast but I was far better at baseball then I ever was at football

 

[ScriptOhio]

Does OSU consider getting rid of non-revenue sports?

Heard on radio that Nuremberg has 17 sports and we have 36.

Just sayin': Not that I have ever heard. Now if they ever decide that the school should pay the scholarship athletes; and they had to pay all the scholarship athletics regardless of the sport that fixed amount, they could run into financial problems there. In addition, you couldn't just indiscriminately cut non-revenue sports, you'd still have to consider Title IX ramifications.

1. Stanford tried that a few years ago:

Stanford Athletics varsity sport reductions: FAQ

news.stanford.edu

There was an "alumni outrage", additional donors were found to fund them, and they ended up reinstating the sports that they proposed cutting, etc.

Report: Stanford Reverses Decision to Eliminate 11 Varsity Sports​

Report: Stanford Reverses Decision to Eliminate 11 Varsity Sports

Stanford will keep all varsity sports during the 2021-22 school year despite previous plans to cut 11 programs.

www.si.com

2. I was under the impression that NIL is totally funded by "outside interests" (i.e. not from the Ohio State;'s athletic budget). If that is true (at this time) there wouldn't be any reason to cut any non-revenue sports as the current Athletic Department budget covers everything.

I remember when I was in school (1966 -1971) it was said that the money Ohio State made off their football and basketball programs funded the schools entire athletic program including intramural sports and they still had some money left over to return to the "general fund". That probably isn't 100% true today though.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Just sayin': Not that I have ever heard. Now if they ever decide that the school should pay the scholarship athletes; and they had to pay all the scholarship athletics regardless of the sport that fixed amount, they could run into financial problems there. In addition, you couldn't just indiscriminately cut non-revenue sports, you'd still have to consider Title IX ramifications.

1. Stanford tried that a few years ago:

Stanford Athletics varsity sport reductions: FAQ

news.stanford.edu

There was an "alumni outrage", additional donors were found to fund them, and they ended up reinstating the sports that they proposed cutting, etc.

Report: Stanford Reverses Decision to Eliminate 11 Varsity Sports​

Report: Stanford Reverses Decision to Eliminate 11 Varsity Sports

Stanford will keep all varsity sports during the 2021-22 school year despite previous plans to cut 11 programs.

www.si.com

2. I was under the impression that NIL is totally funded by "outside interests" (i.e. not from the Ohio State;'s athletic budget). If that is true (at this time) there wouldn't be any reason to cut any non-revenue sports as the current Athletic Department budget covers everything.

I remember when I was in school (1966 -1971) it was said that the money Ohio State made off their football and basketball programs funded the schools entire athletic program including intramural sports and they still had some money left over to return to the "general fund". That probably isn't 100% true today though.

You're correct. The only wrench in the system is if the 30K payment goes through. I am completely against dumping non-revenue sports. Our athletic department pays for itself with no university subsidies or student fees. And, according to this chart, it's still a relatively tiny and proportionate part of our overall budget.

 

[dragurd]

You're correct. The only wrench in the system is if the 30K payment goes through. I am completely against dumping non-revenue sports. Our athletic department pays for itself with no university subsidies or student fees. And, according to this chart, it's still a relatively tiny and proportionate part of our overall budget.

Yeah the only issue I see with having all those sports is Title IX and the ramifications if Football and basketball eventually becomes Paid employees.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Any relation to the singer?

Why would this even be asked?

When this discussion was still on his predecessor’s thread, @BuckBackHome posted a GIF of the singer

This is the internet, ergo an unlabeled reference to her in an off-topic post in another person’s thread is dispositive proof that at the very least they are related, possibly siblings, possibly married, possibly both, and there is a very good chance that they are the same person

 

[osuvictory1]

 

[Thump]

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