Gene Smith’s last day at Ohio State: AD on his tenure, where Buckeyes are headed

Gene Smith, Ohio State’s athletic director since 2005, works his last day Friday. On Saturday morning, he plans to board a plane with his wife, Sheila, and begin his retirement in their family home just outside Scottsdale, Ariz.

Ross Bjork will take over as the full-time athletic director.

Smith sat down with The Athletic to talk about what he’s proud of, if he would change anything and the future of college athletics.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

With it being the last week of @OSU_AD's tenure at Ohio State we want to take another moment to say THANK YOU for all that you have done for Ohio State and the world of college athletics‼️

💻: https://t.co/HrNX0lsats | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/isEYTeEDfI

— Ohio State Buckeyes 🌰 (@OhioStAthletics) June 25, 2024

I know with Ohio State, the interview process, you turned it down a couple of times, and your wife pushed you to interview. As you look back, how important was it that your wife pushed you? 

So important. Thank God she’s smarter than me, and thank God I listened to her. To end my career at Ohio State, it’s been a blessing. To have an opportunity to come here, end my career, implement the things that have been implemented, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

You’re the first Black AD here. You had a hand in a lot of diversity hires, as well. I’m curious how growing up in Cleveland during the civil rights movement impacted you as a Black man when you’re trying to get into a profession you didn’t know you even wanted to get into, especially when you’re working with a lot of Black athletes. How did that help you? 

It was a driver. When I became an athletic director at the age of 29 at Eastern Michigan, I wanted to be the best athletic director in the country, but I also knew that I couldn’t fail. I knew I would be the excuse. You think back to the ’50 and ’60s and ’70s in particular, they would say you can’t hire them because they can’t fundraise, they can’t relate. So I knew I couldn’t fail because I would give hiring authorities that excuse.

I feel so blessed and honored I have been successful because I contributed to opening some doors. I reflect all the time about growing up in Cleveland and mentally just trying to get home from middle school without getting jumped. There’s so many different things. I had my five partners I hung out with, and I think where they are now, three of them have passed away. I think about that. As a Black man, I feel honored to have had this opportunity.

You mentioned the word relate. When I talk to coaches about athletic directors, there’s always a middle ground where they want an AD who is approachable and relatable, but not a micromanager. How did you strike that balance? 

You have to let people lead and grow. You hire people because of their talent and expertise and their skills, so let them do their jobs. You challenge them, (football coach) Ryan (Day) or whoever, my thing was to be curious and just help me understand why you made that decision. It’s how you go at that and how you talk to people that helps them develop and become comfortable. As far as actually doing it like, “Oh no, you have to play this guy at right tackle.” No. No. It’s the same thing with everyone in every department. Let them do their jobs, give them resources, be there for them but get out of their way.

On that same wavelength, in the last six months what has it been like with Bjork, and what impresses you the most about him? (Bjork has been learning from Smith while working as Ohio State’s senior adviser as he transitioned into the athletic director role after leaving Texas A&M. He did run the coaching searches for men’s basketball, baseball and rowing.) 

For him, it’s very rare that you get this opportunity. He’s been great at just listening and learning and not having to make decisions. He was fortunate to make some decisions like basketball, baseball and the rowing hire. He has been able to be curious. I told him this is a great time to be stupid, like why is Brutus’ head so big, and you don’t have to change it. You can just ask questions. I like him as a human being.

GO DEEPER

Ohio State introduces Ross Bjork as next AD: Salary, decisions making practices, other notes

What’s been your favorite accomplishment or memory?

It’s the academics. Shifting coaches to a focus on recruiting character and student-athletes that want to be competitive in the classroom and their sport. When I came in 2005, we had 325 student-athletes maintain a 3.0 GPA. This past year we celebrated 811. The metrics demonstrate what our coaches have done, what our support staff has done, what our student-athletes are doing. Every team is over 3.0 GPA, and to talk about our football team in the same breath as Harvard is a unique thing. (In June, Ohio State announced that it and Harvard were the only Division I football programs with perfect multi-year academic progress rates.)

I am most proud of that. Most people don’t pay attention to that. Second thing is, back in the day, you would look in the Columbus Dispatch or the Cleveland Plain Dealer or turn on the TV, and it would be three, four or five student-athletes charged with something. It’s gone. Our coaches are recruiting character, and so I’m proud of that.

There were some hardships, especially when you look at 2018, how that all went down, is there anything you wish you could’ve done differently there? And what did you learn from that time? (Smith and former coach Urban Meyer were suspended three weeks for their handling of domestic violence accusations against former receivers coach Zach Smith.)

You look back on the career I’ve had, and you make some decisions you wish you could go back and change or to have different outcomes. The “Tattoo-gate” and things I have done at different places, when you’re a decision-maker, you’re going to make mistakes. We’re still looking for a leader that is 100 percent. (Five former Buckeyes including quarterback Terrelle Pryor were suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season after receiving cash and discounted tattoos from the owner of a local tattoo parlor in exchange for memorabilia. Coach Jim Tressel eventually resigned as part of the fallout.)

There’s a number of things in my career, including 2018, where there were different things I could have made decisions around and pushed a little differently that may have changed the outcome, but I don’t dwell on those. I have learned from them, they made me more conscious. Tattoo-gate caused me to be more focused on financial literacy. When you peel back the cover on that issue with student-athletes, who are Black, at the end of the day we need to do a better job with finances. Each case causes you to do something different.

The time has come @NCAA @OSU_AD @OhioStAthletics @Channel75live @DPo8 @BOOMHERRON1 #solomonThomas @AdamSchefter we should get our wins back records back and legacy of @JimTressel5 back and not looked past it! NCAA suspended us but let us play in the sugar bowl win vs Arkansas pic.twitter.com/pGpEvJCbx5

— Terrelle Pryor SR (@TerrellePryor) July 13, 2021

Ohio State’s 36 sports are an unreal thing to juggle for an athletic director. Is that sustainable in the college athletics model?

Not the way we’ve done it. I don’t think it’s realistic to think we can be as competitive as we have been in all 36 sports, something is going to change, however Ross and the executive team decide to do things in the future. That’s one thing that will have to change, the expectation for all of our sports to chase championships is going to change. The money changes, you have to reduce expenses somewhere. I don’t see us dropping sports, but the emphasis might change because of the expenditures and reductions in some sports. We have been killing it in a lot of sports, but I don’t see that in the future, not just here, but everywhere in sports.

With how much name, image and likeness has changed even since it started, where do you see it going next? Or is NIL coming in-house the correct next step? 

I believe coming in-house will allow us to serve the student-athlete better. It will be more clear for everybody. The contests will not change, the games will not change, but everything around the student-athlete will change. I look at it as an educational opportunity. I was trolling some recruits this past weekend. You’ll get your revenue share money, your NIL money too so you’ll have more money in your pocket. But I said, I think there were 13 of them there, “Only 1 percent of you are going pro. I know you all think you are but you’re not, but this is your chance to learn how to manage money, learn about stocks, learn about real estate. Save every penny you can, spend some on yourself, but save what you can.” I look at it as an educational opportunity so how do we, at Ohio State, elevate our financial literacy to help our student-athletes manage their money. The game isn’t going to change, though. It’s still going to be blocking and tackling. It’ll still be exciting. The rules might change but they are still 17-, 18-, 19- and 20-year-old players.

The football program is on fire. Is it going to be weird for you stepping away? 

It will be weird. I struggled with leaving this unbelievably talented team, that I think has the camaraderie and chemistry to be successful. The most talented team doesn’t always win but when  you have a culture and a chemistry, you have a shot, and I think this team has it. Of course they have great coaching, we just paid for the best. I believe it has a shot, and that’s weird for me to step away from. But at the same time it will be cool for me, I thought about this, it’ll be cool for me to just watch it. Just sit at the crib, turn on the TV, have my beer and just cheer them on. I’m looking forward to that. I’ll slide back into a game, sit in the C-deck and chill.

What will you miss the most? 

I’ll miss the people. I’ll miss the kids and the student-athlete engagement. That will be hard for me. People know I attended a lot of sporting events because I enjoyed it and so I’m going to miss that. I’ll miss the people in the department, we’ve had a lot of fun and there’s a lot of talent. Forty-five percent of our employees are 35 years old or younger, I’m going to miss talking to the young puppies and learning from them. That part is going to be hard. I won’t miss a lot of things, but that part I’m going to miss.

College football has changed so much, where do you see it going in the next five to 10 years. 

The game won’t change a lot. There will be rules changing to keep players safe or to make the games shorter, that type of thing, but the model around it will continue to evolve. Student-athletes will get paid, it won’t just be football, it will be other sports. I do hope it becomes more stable around the transfers. Now that we have data we need to correct some things, but if you purely love sports, the sport itself is not going to change. The relationship with certain sports will change, in basketball it’s going to be rare to have third- and fourth-year players, but in football you’ll still have that. I don’t know, it’s hard to predict all the other elements around it, but the game will be just as much fun.

(Photo: Adam Cairns: Columbus Dispatch / USA Today Network)