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

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jwinslow;2007390; said:
none of that put him on the hot seat. this offseason media hatred got him fired.
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I'm not so sure that is correct. When the smoke clears, tOSU is far better off (NCAA wise and PR wise) than if Smith had kept him. Jwins, while it took a while, after receiving the NOA it became clear there was no way Tressel would survive the hearing. That is what sealed it.

It was a simple thing: have a show cause come down and force you to kick him out later (with everyone saying tOSU does not care about major violations by its head coach and will only launch him when forced to do so) - or send him off without paying his 250K penalty while being able to tell the NCAA how much you have suffered by firing a popular and successful head coach (which is exactly what you wound up doing - and saying. And firing him was a huge penalty).

Not launching a coach who will likely be issued a show cause order was not the way to demonstrate an emphasis on compliance - or to defend the University. Keeping Tress is absolutely a good call on how to maximize football success - but that should not have been Gee and Smith's priority once those e-mails were found. The University had to be protected. Tressel's leaving was an inevitability that was only delayed because he was so beloved, so respected, so successful, and yes, so powerful.

I ask you this: Would a 4-7 coach would have been immediately launched? When dealing with the NCAA investigating major violations, it is not a good idea to position yourself as seeming to care more about wins than the rules. Granted, it is far, far easier for my Gator ass to say it, not suffering the bad of losing a great coach, but separating from Tress is the one thing Smith did that was not a misstep. If anything, not putting him on the "not-seat" earlier was a problem that was finally corrected. I don't think the media did it. I think they delayed until the howls grew so that Smith had more cover to do what he knew he had to do.

9-1 against Michigan is a good thing. Protecting tOSU from harm is a greater thing.
 
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Jwins, while it took a while, after receiving the NOA it became clear there was no way Tressel would survive the hearing. That is what sealed it
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he was fired when the SI story came out.

what changed between the NOA and then ? the board room support.
 
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jwinslow;2007719; said:
he was fired when the SI story came out.

what changed between the NOA and then ? the board room support.
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I dunno if we are that far from each other. I agree that the Chinese water torture of negative media articles had an effect. But I do not think that - absent the SI article - Tress would have survived. I think he was dead man walking until the string was finally, reluctantly pulled. I think the timing was affected by the SI article, but I have to think that Smith had enough contacts with the NCAA to know their opinion on keeping him.

No new info came out about Bruce Pearl after the NOA, and it took about the same amount of time - a month - from the NOA to the firing of Pearl. I just think that a major program does not knee jerk fire a famous coach who is alleged to have committed a major problem - especially after the O'Brien thing.
 
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Re: Gee is the most obtuse smart guy I've seen in some time, and as for Smith? Well, I don't know what to make of Smith. Until this Ohio State scandal, I'd assumed Smith was one of the sharpest men in major college athletics. That's been his reputation for more than a decade, but over the last year he has made one dull move after another. Maybe he was sharp at Arizona State. Maybe he was sharp at Iowa State. But at Ohio State? His blade is dull. He's a butter knife. :biggrin:

Entire article: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...-meyer-is-only-way-osus-gee-smith-can-survive
 
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I have a buddy in the MBA program thats taking Gene Smiths class right now...he said he is very up front about much of whaat has been going on...one thing he stated was do not believe anything you hear right now because the agenda machine is churning and everyone has one including Ohio State. Which was refreshing to hear because it seems my beloved alma mater has had their thumb up their ass for much of this.


interestingly he stated that Michigan struck out 5 times in their coaching searches mainly because of wanting to dictate assistants and not pay like some of the SEC schools pay for staff....he said "if" Ohio State were to conduct a coaching search those constraints would not be placed on "our guy"...my friend made it seem that this is why Penn State would have an up hill battle to land an Urban...he also stated (according to my buddy) that they have budgeted quite a large sum for staff moving forward even though this year overhead for the coaching staff is low

take it for what its worth and all that...but nothing earth shattering just interesting
 
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bassbuckeye07;2018525; said:
I have a buddy in the MBA program thats taking Gene Smiths class right now...he said he is very up front about much of whaat has been going on...one thing he stated was do not believe anything you hear right now because the agenda machine is churning and everyone has one including Ohio State. Which was refreshing to hear because it seems my beloved alma mater has had their thumb up their ass for much of this.


interestingly he stated that Michigan struck out 5 times in their coaching searches mainly because of wanting to dictate assistants and not pay like some of the SEC schools pay for staff....he said "if" Ohio State were to conduct a coaching search those constraints would not be placed on "our guy"...my friend made it seem that this is why Penn State would have an up hill battle to land an Urban...he also stated (according to my buddy) that they have budgeted quite a large sum for staff moving forward even though this year overhead for the coaching staff is low

take it for what its worth and all that...but nothing earth shattering just interesting
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IF true this may be the best thing I've ever heard regarding Smith.
 
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I love how people think Gene Smith is/was an idiot. Of course they had plans in place for this. I don't think he was done any favors by the continuing nature of a "revelation-a-week" that was going on. The press conference was inexcusable, true, but when people see the final result vs. all the buildup to it I think we will have been lucky to have Gene in charge during all this.
 
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Merih;2018543; said:
I love how people think Gene Smith is/was an idiot. Of course they had plans in place for this. I don't think he was done any favors by the continuing nature of a "revelation-a-week" that was going on. The press conference was inexcusable, true, but when people see the final result vs. all the buildup to it I think we will have been lucky to have Gene in charge during all this.
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I guess we just have different perspectives. Gene Smith is an idiot for his handling of all things public the last year and a half. It's an embarrassment to tOSU.
 
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muffler dragon;2018544; said:
I guess we just have different perspectives. Gene Smith is an idiot for his handling of all things public the last year and a half. It's an embarrassment to tOSU.
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All I can say is tOSU doesnt feel the same way. The true embarrassment is the violations by players and coach at the end of the day. Proof is who's gone and who's still here. Gene IMO just makes a more popular scapegoat than the rest.

I have no doubt that Gene's work and clout with the NCAA went a long way towards avoiding the LOIC or FTM charges. And if that's the case than I couldn't really care less about public perception.
 
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