I have a bad feeling about Drake. I would hate to see him drive a wedge between the academic and athletic sides of the university. I know there is tension in all schools in this regard, but it seems to me that it was always in control at tOSU.
I suspect that it's just an illusion of control largely attributed to Gordon Gee's pragmatism and ability to recognize that on-field success is always a net positive for school spirit or state pride or whatever you choose to call it. Institutions like Ohio State can harness that for tremendous financial benefit by drawing on ticket sales, merchandise sales, and even donations from non-alumni all over the world that just happen to like one of the sports teams. If there was one thing Gee did better than anything else it was engender
so much pride in people they'd open their wallets.
For as long as there have been academic and athletic sides, and well-heeled boosters, donors, and federal grants, everybody covets the money the other guys getting and thinks they could spend it better. When everybody gets a little bit of the sugar, it soothes tensions.
It's like when the people in my processing department get new computers; all the account managers get pissed they're stuck with the computers
they just got last year. Then when we drop five-figures to renovate 600 sq feet of space to make private offices for the account managers, everyone in marketing is pissed their spaces aren't renovated. For fucks sake, if I buy one new laser printer I've got to buy five just because saving $4000 isn't worth the petty fucking backstabbing.
I bet right now people in cancer research laboratories all over the world are pissed off they didn't think up "ice bucket challenges."
