Tag: Gene Smith

Ohio State AD Gene Smith, Chris Holtmann come to defense of E.J. Liddell

Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann, and AD Gene Smith released statements on threats made to E.J. Liddell on social media following OSU loss.

In case you missed the disgraceful news today, Ohio State basketball forward E.J. Liddell was sent unacceptable and frightening direct messages on social media after the Buckeyes bowed out of the NCAA Tournament.

Yeah, it was a disappointing loss, and, yeah, fans are frustrated, but we’re here to remind everyone it’s just a game.

If you’ve ever met or talked to Liddell, there aren’t a whole lot of better human beings out there. He’s respectful, hard-working and extremely gracious at press conferences and other media availabilities.

Maybe you should have to obtain a license for social media these days. In fact, our writer Mark Russell put this very well in a thought-out perspective.

Regardless, the Ohio State administration came to the defense of Liddell Saturday after the news broke. Both his head coach, Chris Holtmann, and athletic director Gene Smith released statements of support that we’re sharing with you.

NEXT … Chris Holtmann’s statement

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Ohio State pauses all football related activities because of coronavirus

Ohio State has announced a pause of all football-related activities for a week due to an increase in positive coronavirus tests.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not over.

We were reminded of that on Tuesday with news from the Ohio State athletic department that all football-related activities have been put on a one-week pause because of an increase in positive tests for the coronavirus. The Woody Hayes Athletic Center has also been closed.

The Buckeyes have not yet started spring drills, but do have mat drills and other workouts occurring as normal in leading up to the start of the spring football start date of March 19, with a proposed spring game set for April 17.

“Our decisions on the welfare of our student-athletes, staff members and those coming to our campus, and our determination as to when we will reopen and resume activities, will continue to be guided by our medical staff,” pathetic director Gene Smith said in a statement.

“We have been successful in safely hosting nearly 100 athletic events on campus this year with limited disruptions, but this pandemic is not over. We will continue to stress the safety measures of wearing masks, consistent and thorough hand washing and physical distancing and we will remain vigilant in those areas.”

 

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Report: Ohio State AD Gene Smith has not been contacted by Pac-12

According to a report from the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State AD Gene Smith has not been contacted about the open Pac-12 commissioner job.

Shortly after the news broke that the Pac-12 was parting ways with commissioner Larry Scott, names began to circulate about a potential replacement. One of the most prominent names that came up from multiple people was Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith.

Smith has ties to the Pac-12 as the former AD of Arizona State, has been very visible serving on several committees within the NCAA, and leads one of the largest revenue-generating athletic departments in the country. In other words, the marriage would make some sense at least.

However, according to a report from the Columbus Dispatch (subscription may be required), Smith has not been approached by anyone from the Pac-12.

“Honored to be mentioned,” Smith wrote in a text message to The Dispatch, “but I have not been contacted by anyone.” He went on to say that the mentioning of his name was “pure speculation” at this point.

Scott’s tenure on the left coast has been marked by an inability to generate revenue and television deals like some of his other Power Five colleagues. The power and landscape has shifted the most in the biggest revenue sport, college football, and the Pac-12 has struggled to keep up. Because of that and other reasons, the conference’s CEO group voted to end his contract a year early. He will go through June with the league looking for a replacement.

Ryan Day was asked by reporters last week if he has had any conversations about his name coming up and wasn’t shy about his feelings for his boss when he said that he had not.

“I haven’t talked to him about any of that stuff,” Day said, “but if anything like that ever happened, certainly that would not be good. His leadership has been unwavering this past year and probably some of his best work, I would think. Not trying to speak out of school, but he’s done a tremendous job.”

We must note that despite Smith confirming that he has not been contacted, he did not make a point to make a comment on what would happen if he was tapped on the shoulder for interest.

We’ll obviously stay on top of anything that comes further from his name coming up, but at this point, it sounds like there’s still plenty of homework for the Pac-12 to perform.

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Could Gene Smith could be a candidate for next Pac-12 commissioner?

It’s just rumor, but Ohio State AD Gene Smith’s name has come up as a potential replacement for outgoing Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott.

In case you missed the news late last evening, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott is on the way out, a mutual agreement between he and the league’s CEO group. The move comes one-year before his current contract was set to expire and in the face of some landmark changes in the college landscape, as well as the coronavirus pandemic. Scott will remain on until June to allow for the transition of a new commissioner.

And speaking of the search for a new Pac-12 commissioner, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith is one of the main names circulating as a potential replacement out on the left coast.

Now, all the caveats apply here. It’s only a name floated out there and we really have no idea if Smith is a serious candidate, or if he would even consider it. Heck, you couldn’t blame him for not wanting that job, especially with where the 61-year old Smith is in his career.

We don’t see this materializing too much, but you just never know. Smith does have experience in the conference as the former Arizona State athletic director, so there’s a fit culture-wise it would seem. Also, we hear California is a tad warmer in the winter than the frozen tundra of the Midwest.

But hey, we have a better idea. I mean there’s already a guy with experience running a Power Five conference and his name is Kevin Warren. Good fit, no?

You would have to think that Smith will say something about his name coming up, and when he does, we’ll keep you informed.

Ohio State optimistic it can play Saturday vs. Michigan State

Ohio State is still optimistic it’ll be in a position with the coronavirus outbreak to take on Michigan State this coming weekend.

When news broke that Ohio State decided to cancel the game against Illinois because of a rise in coronavirus positivity rates in the program, it was quickly assumed it would be a multiple week process to get back on the field. After all, Wisconsin and Maryland missed a couple of weeks straight before things were at the point where the team was healthy enough to compete again.

However, while appearing on a Zoom call with reporters Sunday, the Buckeye decision-makers introduced a bit of optimism into the ingredients of what seemed to be a disappointing COVID-19 casserole of despair.

Dr. Jame Borchers, the lead in this whole return to play medical taskforce for the Big Ten, provided a bit of a timeline on how things transpired. The team was not in a spot to cancel the game against Illinois until Friday evening, finally crossing a guidepost threshold of over 7.5 percent of the players testing positive. The program did not cross the five percent threshold of overall test results coming back positive.

That all means the team could have played based on what has been set up through the agreement to return to play in the fall. But, the football factory proved everyone wrong in not playing at all costs, erring on the side of safety and caution for its student-athletes.

Even more so, because of where things are, athletic director Gene Smith said the primary focus is getting players healthy enough to play Saturday against Michigan State.

“Our objective now is to continue to focus on the health and safety of our players, to make sure that we provide an opportunity to potentially come back to compete next weekend,” Smith said Saturday. “The tactics and strategies that we will put in place today and tomorrow and the next day and so on is all with an effort to ensure their safety and possibly give them a chance to compete next weekend. That is our primary focus.”

Dr. James Borchers echoed those comments when he provided a medical perspective to where things are.

“We have said all along, we’ll be driven by the data that we have and we’ll look at the data and we’ll make decisions based on the data that we have,” Borchers said. “And we’ll try not to forecast what that data will be, because that gets us into trouble. So we’ll use the data that comes out of our process and make the best decisions moving forward as we move into this next week … the hope is that we’re gonna get our student-athletes back to competition as quickly as possible.”

And then there’s the question of whether or not Ohio State will have enough time to prepare and be in shape for Michigan State. According to head coach Ryan Day, that too can be done with just a couple days of preparation.

“I would just say that I would think you could get it done (play Saturday) by practicing Thursday, making sure you have a good, hard practice Thursday,” Day said. “And then you could walk-through on Friday and play on Saturday. But again, we’ll just have to take it day-by-day and see how it goes.”

So don’t lose hope Buckeye fans. Obviously, the health and safety of everyone involved is paramount in this case, but it looks like Ohio State could still be on pace to play this weekend and beyond, and not just if all the stars align.

We’ll stay on top of this developing story.

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WATCH: Ohio State football coronavirus update press conference

Ohio State’s Gene Smith, Ryan Day, and Dr. James Borchers met with the media Saturday to provide an update on the coronavirus outbreak.

Ohio State is unexpectedly idle this week. Its game against Illinois was canceled because of a growing number of positive test results within the program. That makes two games that have fallen on the COVID-19 sword and has put OSU’s Big Ten Championship hopes in jeopardy, not to mention a spot in the College Football Playoff.

To the credit of Ohio State, it met with the media to provide an update on where things stand, and we did get some clarity on how severe the outbreak is, what the potential for the remaining season looks like, and the priority on the health and safety of the student-athletes.

We’ve already told you about the Buckeyes’ decision-making process involved, but we’ve got the entire press conference for you to in the event that you missed anything that was said.

You can get the entire press conference by clicking on the link in the below tweet from the official Twitter account of the Ohio State Buckeyes, or by finding it on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

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For those that say Ohio State has a win at all costs football culture, that was just proven wrong

Many like to push a narrative that the Ohio State football program has a win at all costs agenda. That was proven wrong this weekend.

Anytime any kind of negative news breaks for the Ohio State football program, the criticism comes out, hard. Knowing that the Buckeye football program is one of the historical elite on the field and has racked up numerous individual and team awards throughout its illustrious history, there are those that believe OSU will put a product on the field in spite of everything true and moral.

We saw that be the narrative when Jim Tressel got in hot water (and was forced to resign), we saw it other disciplinary actions, and we especially witnessed it during the Zach Smith/Urban Meyer investigation.

Heck, we even heard about it when Ohio State pushed hard for its student-athletes to be able to play football this fall even though several other conferences and teams continued to forge ahead without the same level of criticism in the face of a pandemic.

Stop it. It’s not true.

If you had any questions about that, they should be put to rest today because Ohio State just made the call to cancel a football game it desperately needed to play, and win. And it did it despite not crossing the thresholds set up by the Big Ten’s Medical Subcommittee to shut things down.

While providing an update to COVID-19 outbreak on the team today on a ZOOM presser, both Dr. Jame Borchers and athletic director Gene Smith reiterated that the safety of the student-athletes was the priority and modus operandi throughout this season.

The team did pass the 7.5 percent population threshold, but not the overall positive 5 percent test threshold outlined for guideposts and decision data points on playing. In other words, the Buckeyes could have thrown caution to the wind, boarded a plane at the eleventh hour this morning, parachuted into Memorial Stadium with pads on, and played a very meaningful game for the program. The very thing you would expect of a program looking to win at all costs.

“Could we have played? Sure,” Gene Smith said. “Was it the right thing to pay? No.”

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That sounds like the exact opposite of a team and program that will elbow its way through integrity and class just to notch another win. As much as Ohio State has gone out of its way to protect student-athlete privacy by not publicly publishing the exact numbers of positive test results, it could have kept some of this in relative darkness and went ahead with a game.

But it didn’t.

Instead, Ohio State is now just one game away from not being eligible for the Big Ten Championship Game. A team has to have played six games to be considered for the game per Big Ten policy this year. That is now the most OSU can be a part of if both of the last two can still be played. Smith addressed any discussions had with the conference on perhaps changing that policy.

“That’s not what we are here team … I get the question. I’m very sensitive to that,” Smith said. “But that’s not where we are. We made a decision late last night to do what we did.”

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With two games now scratched because of the coronavirus pandemic, OSU is also potentially taking a hit to its College Football Playoff perception, one in which it was already barely in the top four upon the initial rankings.

Less games mean fewer data points. The fewer the data points and tape available for the CFP Committee could mean the difference between Ohio State getting a crack at the Playoff vs. being relegated to another, less-meaningful (and less money) bowl.

The Buckeyes could have put up some huge numbers and enhanced its resume and perception. Quarterback Justin Fields could have slung the ball around Memorial Stadium for a ton of yards and scored a few touchdowns to enhance his Heisman standing. They won’t. He can’t.

And it’s all because the Ohio State brass, including AD Gene Smith, head coach Ryan Day, and Dr. James Borchers made a decision to protect the student-athletes at Ohio State and Illinois.

So yeah, win at all costs? Not quite. Not in the least.

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Gene Smith says fans could return to Ohio State football games in 2020

Ohio State AD Gene Smith offers hope that fans may return to Big Ten stadiums. It will be re-evaluated week-by-week.

We shared with you recently some of the changes you can expect when Ohio State opens up their football season this Saturday against Nebraska. From only coaches and players families in the stands to mandatory masks to no TBDBITL, it’s all going to look very different than what we’re accustomed to.

One of the most noticeable differences will be the absence of 100,000 plus fans cheering on the Buckeyes. Cardboard cutouts and artificial noise murmur will replace living, breathing human beings.

The Big Ten has decided that even though each state has different protocols for large gatherings, in order to keep consistency, all conference games will be played with the same empty stadiums. The Big Ten is even providing the canned crowd noise and set the max decibel level so that all will be on an even playing field.

However, there is hope on the horizon. Ohio State Athletic Director, Gene Smith, said that the Big Ten will re-evaluate on a week-by-week basis on a decision to allow fans in the stands and to what capacity. It does sound like the conference is at least willing to listen to what the numbers say about COVID cases and adjust accordingly if numbers would trend toward a steady decline.

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The conference does seem steadfast in keeping the playing field even during this pandemic, which means there would need to be significant drops in positive COVID-19 rates across 11 different states that make up the Big Ten. For example, if Ohio sees a nosedive in cases, but Illinois sees a spike, attendance protocols will most likely stay the same.

We’re hopeful to see fans back in attendance as the season progresses. Although, let’s be honest… a night game at Penn State without the whiteout crowd does play to the Buckeye’s favor. Either way, even though it might look a little different, Ohio State football is back and we couldn’t be more excited!

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Ohio State football home games are going to look a lot different on Saturdays in 2020

Ohio StatefFootball home game days will hold a very limited number of guests, while other game-day traditions will be absent. It’s a change.

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a really difficult year. The global pandemic has affected every part of life, including college football and the Ohio State football program. From having a Big Ten only schedule, to a complete cancelation, and back to an even slimmer conference only schedule, you can bet Saturday at Ohio Stadium is going to look a whole lot different than what we’ve been accustomed to.

The Ohio State Athletic department released its 2020 “game day operations” on Monday. Some of which we expected… some we did not.

First, we knew that the ‘Shoe was going to look different as the Big Ten decided to not allow any fans in the stands. Trying to make a 100,000 plus seat stadium not look baren will be a tough task. The Athletic department decided to “put a lil you in the ‘shoe”. For a small price, you can have a personalized cardboard cutout sitting in A deck.

Ohio State did say there will be a few actual, breathing humans in the bleachers as it has allotted 656 seats for family of OSU players and coaches, as well as 400 spots for the opposing team. Total capacity will be capped at 1,600 which includes ushers, concession workers, etc… Guests will be physically distanced across 10 A deck sections and all will be required to wear face masks. So while there will be a few live faces in the stands, it won’t be what you’ve been seeing down south in SEC stadiums.

What about sounds in the stadium? Crowd noise? The band? I’m glad you asked. A cavernous stadium such as the Horseshoe will feel odd without some noise.  The Big Ten is providing each school with “crowd noise murmur” with the level going no higher than 70 decibels during play but can go up to 90 decibels during celebration moments.

Here’s the bad news though, no TBDBITL. What’s college football without the band striking up the fight song after a score? An official release from the athletic department states:

“The Ohio State Marching Band will not perform at games this year, nor will it conduct its traditional “skull session” at St. John Arena before games. However, fans can watch newly recorded pregame and halftime performances by the Marching Band on the Scarlet Saturday second-screen stream.”

Scarlet Saturday? Each home game Saturday, Buckeye fans will be encouraged to experience and enjoy a slice of game day through a Scarlet Saturday production, a live-streamed second-screen experience from inside Ohio Stadium, and that will also include pre-recorded band performances. Find out more about how to experience Scarlet Saturday here.

Along with no OSU Marching Band, there will be no cheerleaders, no Brutus, no team walk, and no tailgating.

However, there is some hope. Athletic Director Gene Smith says that the Big Ten will re-evaluate its decision to allow fans on a week to week basis. Which means Ohio Stadium could open up in the weeks to come.

I know it’s not going to look the same Buckeye fans and it does feel like the Big Ten is going well above what is necessary. But let’s be thankful we’re even having a season at all. Be smart. Be safe. And Go Bucks!

 

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Ohio State athletics projects $107 million deficit for 2020-2021

The Ohio State athletics department projects a $107 million deficit for 2020-2021 due to lost revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to leave all areas of life in its wake.

The latest is the updated budget projection for the Ohio State athletic department, and it’s not good news. According to a release from the university, OSU athletics projects a $107 million loss for 2020-2021 academic year.

As you would suspect, the loss is a result of lost revenue from — among other things — ticket sales which account for roughly $64 million alone. Without a full season and without fans in the stands for a renewed Big Ten season, the downfall is still projected to be significant.

Despite the gloom outlook, Ohio State does not plan on cutting any of its 36 sports, though there will be further budget cuts including the following:

  • 48 members of the athletic training staff and strength and conditioning staff will have a 5-day intermittent furlough, to be completed between Oct. 6 and June 30, 2021;
  • 213 staff members are assigned to a 10-day intermittent furlough, to be completed between Oct. 6 and June 30, 2021;
  • 84 staff members will go on a 60-day, continuous furlough or redeployment from Oct. 9 through Dec. 31;
  • 47 contracted staff members will be asked to take a voluntary, 5 percent salary reduction between Oct. 1 and June 30, 2021; and
  • A permanent reduction in force will eliminate 25 full-time athletics positions.

The four staff members in the athletics department’s Sports Psychology and Wellness Services team will not be furloughed in a much-needed nod to mental health.

“Our student-athletes are our primary responsibility,” athletic director Gene Smith said in a statement. “They have and will continue to come first. We have put together a responsible and conservative budget for this fiscal year, which assumes full support for our student-athletes. In the midst of this devastating pandemic, we remain committed to providing a safe and excellent academic and athletic experience for all of our student-athletes.

“Like our colleagues in the Big Ten, and across the country, intercollegiate athletics at Ohio State will have to significantly adjust as the pandemic will have a long term impact. We will implement a long term deficit recovery plan but will continue to focus on serving our student-athletes at the highest level.”

Going forward, Ohio State will continue to have a $180 million athletics budget. The breakdown includes $25 million in athlete scholarships, $3.6 million for academic support, $3 million for meals and nutrition, and $1.8 million for sports medicine and sports psychology services.

All we can say here at Buckeyes Wire is that our thoughts are with all of those effected and we hope this unprecedented and extraordinary time rounds the corner to some sense of normalcy soon.

 

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