Ohio State Buckeyes: Gene Smith set to retire next year

Gene Smith has been the athletic director for Ohio State for a very long time. All of the Ohio State Buckeyes he has been in charge of have had successful teams, despite making a few mistakes along the way. Now, Smith is about to retire and leave the job to someone else.

Speaking to the media today, Smith said that he will retire on June 30th, 2024. At the end of his tenure, he will have about 20 years of service to Ohio State. As of right now, the Ohio State Buckeyes have 32 team national championships and 117 individual national titles on his watch.

Smith also presided under some of the most profitable times for the Ohio State athletic department. He helped preside over conference expansion multiple times and helped the Buckeyes navigate a couple of huge TV deals. He’ll always be remembered for that.

Unfortunately, he will also be remembered for a few mistakes.He refuses to winterize Ohio Stadium to play night games later in the year and has advocated for Ohio State to play home football playoff games in Indianapolis instead of at the Shoe, which is very dumb.

Smith also cooperated with the NCAA in 2012 and instead of accepting a bowl ban in the meaningless Gator Bowl for the 2011 season, the Ohio State football team got one in 2012. They then went undefeated that season and missed out on playing for a national title because of it. Smith also refuses to replace the turf and go back to natural grass despite the grass being safer for the players.

By and large though, Smith will be remembered for having a very successful tenure as Ohio State’s AD. He is one of the most powerful figures in all of college sports and has done the Ohio State Buckeyes right in a lot of ways.

It’s unclear at the moment who might take over. The Buckeyes have a whole year to figure that out though.