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Gene Smith (AD The Ohio State, '10 AD of the Year, '13 NAAC Organizational Leadership Award)

thenumber7 said:
sorry to bring this up in the face of the big game this september (in a season which can't come soon enough), and all, but i thought UT-austin was the biggest university in the US with tosu #2. let me just say, if that's the case, well then that will the only number at which they will be greater than tosu this year :wink2:

Nope. OSU is bigger, but what does that have to do with this thread?
 
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Affirmative Action Hiring...?

I hope not but I think it was. I didn't want to make a snap decision when he was hired so I gave it time to sink in but the more I read about him the less I like him. I think he was the wrong hire! We did the exact same thing Notre Dame did when they hired Willingham that being looking at skin color and not at his overall qualifications. I'm afraid we are setting ourselves up for a big fall with his hiring. The media will do THE EXACT SAME THING to TOSU as they did to Notre Dame when they fired Willingham. I pray I'm wrong but we are in a no win situation. I'll be the first to apologize if he turns out to be a good AD but this very moment I just don't see it. And, WHY WAS A POSITION CREATED FOR HIS WIFE at TOSU? A six figure salary for what?? This whole situation stinks!
 
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windycitybuck said:
I prey I'm wrong but we are in a no win situation. I'll be the first to apologize if he turns out to be a good AD but this very moment I just don't see it.
I prey you're wrong, too. I don't want to turn this into a politcal discussion (there are other boards for that, I'm sure), but this may become bad for tOSU. But I don't think it is a no-win situation. If he's an awesome hire, we all win. I'm not worried about it - if he's good, he stays. If he sucks, he's gone. The media may try to bitch about it for a minute, but that's what they do. tOSU knows to not let the media bother them.
 
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windycitybuck said:
I prey I'm wrong but we are in a no win situation. I'll be the first to apologize if he turns out to be a good AD but this very moment I just don't see it. And, WHY WAS A POSITION CREATED FOR HIS WIFE at TOSU? A six figure salary for what?? This whole situation stinks!

I'm having trouble believing that race had anything to do with his hiring. OSU has hired a lot of people in the athletic department recently, and the race card never came up before. Why would we all worry about it as soon as the first minority is hired?

I PRAY I'm right. I pray that the media doesn't prey on tOSU athletic department if he's fired. :biggrin:

By the way WindyCityBuck, what in the SeaBiscuit did you do to get so many red chicklets after just 14 posts?
 
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To suggest we got a bad hire because we wanted to hire a black also suggests there were no qualified black candidates. That is simply not true. OSU was in a position to hire an excellent AD whether it was motivated by affirmative action or not (I am aware of no evidence other than Smith's race to suggest it was and frankly I find it unfair to suggest that everytime a black coach or AD is hired it is evidence of affirmative action).

I would like to see Smith get a chance, but if he turns out to be a bad hire it is because the folks who hired him didn't do their job - simple as that.
 
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It seems that maybe different people are using different definitions of what would constitute an affirmative action hire. If the issue is whether the hiring committee took Smith's race into account, and considered it a factor in his favor, I think that's probable. If the issue is whether that was the only qualification in his favor, that he isn't qualified aside from that, I think that's very unlikely. Unfortunately, that perception is one of the negative consequences of affirmative action policies.

As to the question of why this is never raised when a white male is hired, wouldn't that be simply because affirmative action is not geared to promote the hiring of white men?
 
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BuckeyeTillIDie said:
Typically, someone brings up affirmative action. One has to wonder if this fucking country will ever get over skin color and realize that it is the stupidest thing to ever judge anyone on.
That outburst certainly invites response, but it probably better belongs to the political discussion board at this point.
 
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thenumber7 said:
sorry to bring this up in the face of the big game this september (in a season which can't come soon enough), and all, but i thought UT-austin was the biggest university in the US with tosu #2. let me just say, if that's the case, well then that will the only number at which they will be greater than tosu this year :wink2:


Largest Enrollments in Fall 2004​


Top 10 Universities​


(Public & Private)​


Total​
Rank Enrollment​

1 Ohio State University, Columbus 50,995​

2 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities 50,954​

3 University of Texas, Austin 50,377​



Just for clarification........​
 
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Cincinnatibuck said:
Affirmative Action calls for the equal chance for all people qualified to be hired for a particular job.
Yes, this is what it affirmative action calls for, and it seeks to achieve that commendable goal by promoting the hiring of people who are statistically underrepresented, vs. people who are statistically overrepresented.
 
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I base my reservations about this guy on two things; OSU's track record of dipping into ASU's talent pool for athletic department hirings and everything we here from those familiar with the ASU athletic department situation under Smith.

As all others, I pray we are all wrong about Smith and he turns out ok, but as of right now I'm HIGHLY skeptical.
 
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Affirmative Action calls for the equal chance for all people qualified to be hired for a particular job.

it seeks to achieve that commendable goal by promoting the hiring of people who are statistically underrepresented, vs. people who are statistically overrepresented.

These two statement directly contradict one another.
 
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