On May 18, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith was quoted as saying his embattled head football coach still had his full faith and backing.
“Oh, definitely, no question,” Smith said when asked at the Big Ten meetings in Chicago if he still supported his football coach. “I haven’t changed, I haven’t changed.”
Nearly two weeks later, Jim Tressel stepped down as the Buckeyes’ coach amid reports that he was encouraged to resign by unnamed individuals for the good of the program. As it turns out, Smith himself was one of those unnamed individuals.
During an interview with the Columbus Dispatch‘s Bill Rabinowitz ahead of his school’s response to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations, acknowledged for the first time that he asked the long-time head coach to step down the day before he officially resigned. And that his support had wavered “long before” that day came.
Smith would not answer questions directly related to the NCAA case, but he did acknowledge for the first time that, on May 29, he asked Jim Tressel to resign as football coach. Tressel stepped down the next day.
OSU officials publicly supported Tressel long after the revelation in March that he had failed to forward to anyone at the university emails warning him that players had sold memorabilia and received tattoo discounts – an NCAA violation. But Smith admitted that his support had wavered “long before” he asked for Tressel’s resignation. Asked if that meant weeks or days, Smith replied: “Days.”
While not nearly as much as Tressel had, Smith has come under fire as well for the fires of scandal/rumor/innuendo/speculation that’s burned in connection to the storied football program over the past several months. Unlike his now-former football coach, asking himself to step down has not and will not be a consideration.
“Oh, heck no,” Smith told the Dispatch. “There’s never been a point in my life in (this) business when I’ve considered resigning.
“When you know that what you do every day is right and you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got to stay the course and make sure we continue to get better and help our current student-athletes and coaches. So I’ve never thought about that at all.”
Whether Smith’s boss or other unnamed individuals have thought about it, however, remains to be seen and is a scene in this soap opera that’s yet to fully play itself out.
What a weak, spineless, person. Be a man Gene.
“When you konw that what you do every day is right…” REALLY Gene??? Your kidding, right?
I’m sick of seeing your flip-flopping drivel.
Sorry John, it’s not a shot at your journalism.
I’m guessing that he’s admitting this publicly so that he can show the NCAA that THEY took the situation seriously enough to shed a valued employee. The school is now throwing itself at the mercy of the NCAA’s court and they need to because the allegations against Tressel are serious. They were lucky to not get the dreaded LOIC but if more of this continues to surface, I wouldn’t count on that to continue.
OSU is working their collective aZZs off to pile all of their problems on Saint Jim and Pryor. It is working well with the media so far. We’ll see what the NCAA has to say about it.
loic for covering/lying for the tat 5?how about murder charges for sending a kid to his death just to record practice?
Cue the tOSU crowd, “JT, this just further proves your anti-tOSU bias. It’s bad enough you brought down our beloved head coach, but now you’re trying to send the A.D. down the river with him.”
You cannot trust anything Smith says. He has not been honest since the beginning, and it wont surprise me if he’s told to resign by the end of the year… if the OSU president, provost and the board of revenge know what’s good for the school’s athletic future.
Board of Regents, not Revenge, though that’s a good one too. Android autospell error.
Gene Smith isn’t going anywhere. Deal with it or head to Sam’s Club and get some Kleenex in bulk.
Unless I hear it directly from the vest, I’ll never believe that he didn’t verbally tell Gene Smith and then let him call all the shots.
78lion, Tressel AND Pryor ARE responsible for most of this because Tressel lied about this and Pryor is going to end up hurting them because of the tattoo situation as well as other peccadilloes.
It’s a program that got out of control and needs to be whacked down to size.
I worked with Gene Smith for more than five years. There is NO truth in this man. He is one of the most accomplished liars I have ever known. He’s a ladder climber, as politically correct as they come, and has a P.O. box in situational ethics. As long as Ohio State employs this man, they remain stained. And his loyalty to them is zero; all he’s ever wanted is the Notre Dame AD job.
Hello, Gene…
Just how many of your football players happen to have the same black Chryslers? Are your compliance folks out to lunch?
The only thing more obvious was when they were all driving Hummers! Tressel may have lied, but he was good enough to fall on the sword for YOU!
What is LOIC ?
email to chiefcarnes@aol.com
Thanks to someone
Check Gene Smiths’ past and you’ll find that sanctions have followed him from job to job. Educators have a way to pass along undesireables from school to school just as they high schools pass along petafiles (swasbricks) and given them glowing recommendations.
Buy the way Gene Smith is living proof that the “Peter Principal” is alive in OHIO. He runs the athletic department the way the governer runs the state right in the hole.
When did Steve Harvey become OSU AD?
@ apac6586
I would pay to see that.
I know the headline reads that Smith asked Tressel to step down…but I can’t find any quotation marks or links that back up the claim that Smith asked Tressel to step down.
What did Gene Smith say?
It says that Smith would not answer questions “directly”…does that mean Gene Smith would not go on record, that he asked Tressel to step down?
To back up the claim the media is making, they need these ” ” around Gene Smith’s exact words.
Lacking quotation marks could be interrupted as heresay, on the part of the media…or that Smith was unwilling to speak on the record, which means the media can’t claim Smith asked Tressel to step down.
CFT/John Taylor…did Gene Smith give an on the record statement, that he asked Tressel to step down?
…If he did, why can’t you quote Gene Smith’s words so readers know exactly what Smith said?
…mac
mac, mac, mac – thy tin foil is showing. Please refer to follow up messages where — gasp — tOSU admits to pushing the Vessel That Is Tressel out the door.
CFT/John Taylor…did Gene Smith give an on the record statement, that he asked Tressel to step down?
…If he did, why can’t you quote Gene Smith’s words so readers know exactly what Smith said?
…mac
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For those of you who believe that the USA still has a fantastic education system may I present exhibit A to the contrary. This guy proves that the ability to read, and the ability to comprehend what is read do not go hand in hand.
Gene should be gone just like the gay sweater vest….O$U the USC of the Mid West…hey Luke Fickell…”Dead Man Walking”