Ohio State officially hires a new Athletic Director
The Ohio State University has officially hired a new athletic director to take over for Gene Smith when he retires in the Summer.
By Ryan Stano
There has been a lot of speculation about who Ohio State was going to hire as their next athletic director. A lot of people thought that they would go for someone who had worked with Gene Smith in the past or had some sort of tie to the university. Both thoughts make sense.
Instead, it was reported that Ohio State was narrowing in on Ross Bjork from Texas A&M. Bjork has no past ties to Ohio State or Smith, which makes it somewhat of an odd choice. Yet, that is the choice that new President Ted Carter has decided to make and Ohio State has officially hired him.
Bjork is now the new athletic director once Gene Smith retires at the end of June. He takes over an athletic department that has varying states of success. The football program, which brings in the most money, will be the most pressing issue that Bjork looks at.
If Ryan Day isn't able to beat Michigan and win the Big Ten next year, Bjork may have to make a change. He might have to make a major change even before that with the men's basketball program. Chris Holtmann looks like he's falling flat in the Big Ten yet again.
Would Smith allow Bjork to fire Holtmann at the end of the season even if Smith is still technically in the role? That's unclear. What is clear is that Holtmann has zero Big Ten titles (regular season or postseason) and has yet to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
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The end of April might give us our first glimpse of what kind of standards Bjork has for the two most popular sports at Ohio State. Willl he keep Holtmann in a role he no longer deserves? Or will he make the right decision and move on from him? Only time will tell.