SIAP: Bucknuts to Replace AD Smith with Current TAMU AD
New OSU prez hiring outside the Gene Smith AD tree. Bjork extended Jimbo Fisher to yield that MASSIVE buy-out. TAMU does not seem to be too concerned with his possible departure.
This bodes...well?
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/39314907/ohio-state-targeting-ross-bjork-athletic-director
January 15th, 2024 at 4:45 PM ^
Yeah, this feels like a weird move. They have a deep bench of Gene Smith protégés, who surely would have kept the status quo and continued to cross out M’s. Feels to me like they just went for an AD with experience spending a lot of money.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:50 PM ^
Sometimes you just gotta get the old guard out and get your own guys in, whether it yields any tangible benefit to the organization or not.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:50 PM ^
...experience spending a lot of money of football players...
FIFY
January 16th, 2024 at 7:21 PM ^
They're going full out in the NIL game. Not hard to figure out
January 15th, 2024 at 4:50 PM ^
Yup, this Bjork guy's a money-churning hack. Never thought much of his mom's music, either.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:53 PM ^
Feels to me like they went for an AD that is all about his school dropping that bag for incoming recruits.
January 15th, 2024 at 9:23 PM ^
It seems Ohio State has struggled for years at cheating.
Good thing they finally hired a professional.
January 15th, 2024 at 10:31 PM ^
Hit the nail on the head. Ross Bjork was at Ole Miss during the Hugh Freeze era and Texas A&M for Jimbo Fisher era. Common denominator was finding ways to bend or break rules to pay recruits.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:55 PM ^
I’m wondering if he facilitated all that nil money aTm was spending and maybe that’s the draw to him. Otherwise I’m drawing blanks on the why.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:58 PM ^
Texas A&M = oil money = huge NIL = #1 signed class a few years ago = huge buyout for Fisher = exotic cars = transfer portal = ideal fit in Columbus
January 16th, 2024 at 12:22 AM ^
I’m ok with playing THE Texas A&M University every year
January 15th, 2024 at 7:06 PM ^
Slight edit; believe you meant wasting a lot of money.
January 16th, 2024 at 6:53 AM ^
Is this a Dombrowski-type hire? Seems like this AD leaves every stop in financial ruins.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:49 PM ^
Of course they did.... FFS
January 15th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but the man's track record includes hiring Devout Soldier of the Lord Hugh Freeze, and the unimpeachable Matt Luke at Ole Miss, overseeing a 5 year bowl game drought, leaving for TAMU and then re-signing Jimbo Fisher only to subsequently give him $75 million to go on vacation forever, AND FINALLY fumbling the bag with the potential hiring of the immortal MARK Stoops*. I am TREMBLING at this visionary hire by the Central Ohio Board Of Sporting Business.
/s
*Originally accidentally I wrote "Bob Stoops" when the reality is somehow much worse.
January 15th, 2024 at 8:13 PM ^
Too funny! No /s needed from my what I read.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:57 PM ^
Kinda funny because everyone at UCLA has been acting as if Martin was as good as gone. Talk about awkwardness moving forward.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:58 PM ^
He will support their NIL collectives coming from A&M. His history shows that he might be a borderline fool at the AD position. What a great marriage!
January 15th, 2024 at 4:59 PM ^
I think my general take on ADs is you want them to be silent. Brandon may legit have been the worst P5 AD ever. Warde gets hate and some of it is deserved but mostly I'm curious if there's been an AD we have had a positive impression of - not Warde, not Brandon, not Bill Martin, who blamed the last guy (googled: Tom Moss?) for financial woes. Everyone likes Canham right? Did folks like the ADs of the '90s, including Bo?
Anyhow, I mainly respected or didn't think of Smith except the one time in The Game this year when he got mouthy with security and sounded very entitled. If he didn't do that, he'd have been the platonic ideal of an AD.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:31 PM ^
Everyone loved Jim Hackett during his brief tenure.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:47 PM ^
We could really use a Hackett type right now, even if just for a few weeks.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:48 PM ^
Because he had two responsibilities. Fire Hoke, and hire Harbaugh.
January 15th, 2024 at 7:33 PM ^
He also surmised correctly that those were the responsibilities. More importantly, he accomplished them.
January 15th, 2024 at 9:45 PM ^
He surmised? It was plain as day that was his role the moment he was announced as acting AD. The man didn't get some grand vision from On High.
January 16th, 2024 at 11:32 AM ^
You'd be surprised how many people would overthink something like that. Being able to correctly identify the obvious and simple decisions is a valuable skill.
January 15th, 2024 at 4:59 PM ^
Is he bringing the bagmen with him?
January 15th, 2024 at 5:06 PM ^
Looks like the Eleven Warriors crew, who simultaneously (a) cry about their five star recruits getting lifted by nothing more than higher paying southern programs, (b) preach about their program's pristine clean "its about more than money and the NFL draft here" culture, history and tradition (lol), and (c) openly acknowledge Ohio State's need to pay top dollar for five stars, will get what they want.
Ohio State will likely be outbidding Miami and the rest of the south in the next recruiting cycle. Their fans will paper over that and point out that the kids show up because of Ohio State's unique culture.
January 15th, 2024 at 7:09 PM ^
not like he did a great job with the bag. It was big, to be sure. But the ROI was a disaster.
January 15th, 2024 at 10:33 PM ^
That may have more to do with Fisher than Bjork though. The ROI at Ole Miss under Freeze with with Bjork was pretty good.
January 16th, 2024 at 8:43 AM ^
Was it? They didnt win much of anything except they upset Alabama a couple times and won a Sugar Bowl.
January 16th, 2024 at 6:59 AM ^
It sort of feels like the one and done culture of Kentucky basketball. Since Bama basically created the culture and everyone from MSU (NTMSU), Georgia, TamU, Miami and OSU are copying it. Does OSU go the route of Kentucky bssketball of late? It seems like they are leaning into each and every weakness by doubling down on whatever has proven to work in the last few years. It could work splendidly. I wouldn't doubt any prediction from national title to Texas A&M 2023, but I'll always air on the side of caution and say OSU is the new favorite to win it all and keep going bucknuts!
January 15th, 2024 at 5:07 PM ^
How fitting that their new AD is Bjork, because as a Colu❌bus resident, I can confirm that right now it's oh so quiet here.
January 15th, 2024 at 6:40 PM ^
The first time I heard Bjork, I thought Dolores O’Riordan and the yodeler from The Price is Right game Cliff Hangers had a baby.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:07 PM ^
Apparently looking to improve their bag dropping game
January 15th, 2024 at 5:14 PM ^
It's obvious why they're doing this. Bjork is a very unnatural fit except for one area: NIL. He'll give them a blank check to spend on recruits.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:28 PM ^
The question is.. do the Buckeye boosters have pockets as deep as A&M oil money?
We’re going to find out - but, my guess is.. “no, they don’t.”
And, if you want to see mercenaries - and locker room discord, grab your popcorn.
P.S. The Lamborghini dealership in Columbus (Dublin) is about a 20 minute drive from the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. And, it’s eve closer to the O$U airport.
January 15th, 2024 at 8:11 PM ^
The question is.. do the Buckeye boosters have pockets as deep as A&M oil money?
Boosters? I thought Name, Image, and Likeness was about capitalizing on a player's popularity commercially. Like signing autographs, doing commercials, and endorsing products. If you're using Booster money isn't that pay to play? Isn't that against the rules? Where's the NCAA in all of this? /s
No wonder Coach Jim's heading for the NFL. Suspended for 1/2 the season? He's all about competing with well-defined rules. CFB is a joke, which makes our winning the National Championship the way we did all that more satisfying.
Million-dollar question...how do we replace Coach Herb?
January 16th, 2024 at 11:35 AM ^
That's obviously the goal, but Bjork doesn't bring the money. TAMU has certifiably insane boosters with certifiably insane amounts of money. For all we know Bjork just woke up every morning in a pile of cash and just had to give it out to people. We don't really know how effective the guy is at drumming up money from people that aren't already shoveling it into his office before he can even sit down.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
First thing he needs to do is extend Ryan Day with a huge buyout.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:35 PM ^
Nice find WolveJD. Appears to be a terrible hire.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:36 PM ^
IMO This will work out well for them. OSU with A&M NIL would be annoying. It only failed at A&M because they sucked and Jimbo didnt keep them in line. OSU wont ever truly suck and the winning will keep the NIL divas in line.
This guy made a mistake extending Jimbo and some bad coaching hires, but all the schools he worked at didnt have as easy of coaching options as OSU has due to all their coaching trees and alumni.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:50 PM ^
Not sure they can recruit better than they already have... That A&M money isn't going anywhere. Teams with huge NIL pockets will continue to have huge NIL pockets. Building a winning culture isn't something you can just throw money at.
OSU is gonna continue to recruit really well. They'll have good coaching because they money will be there and the expectations are high. But a spendy AD doesn't really move the needle IMO.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:50 PM ^
Weirdest double post ever. Whoops!
January 15th, 2024 at 5:38 PM ^
This could be, dare I say it, their Dave Brandon moment
January 15th, 2024 at 6:08 PM ^
That would be great!
January 15th, 2024 at 8:38 PM ^
Horseshoe ticket with purchase of two (Schmidt’s) cream puffs. May they fall so low.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:47 PM ^
Because if there’s a program I can think of that operates on the up-and-up, it’s TAMU.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:57 PM ^
Eh, I'd assume this dude has experience with NIL, which I don't like
January 15th, 2024 at 8:37 PM ^
Except A&M’s NIL was all smoke and mirrors. There was a lot of talk of getting players a lot of money and it never really came to fruition