Area H.S. football: Week 2
Lebanon vs. Reynoldsburg
Little Miami vs. Hillsboro
Home > Blogs > Buckeyes Beat > Archives > 2008 > June > 05 > Entry
Why would Gene Smith want the Notre Dame AD job?
Almost as soon as the Notre Dame athletic directorship opened up with Kevin White’s departure, Ohio State’s Gene Smith (ND alum) said he had no interest:
One potential candidate for the job to replace Kevin White, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, pulled himself from consideration Tuesday afternoon by releasing a statement. Smith is a former football player and assistant coach at Notre Dame.
“I have the utmost respect for Notre Dame and great admiration for the university and its athletics department,” said Smith, who also included that the school did not contact him. “But I will not be a candidate for the job there.”
Why would he? What we’ve learned from White’s departure seems to be that Notre Dame is a difficult place to run an athletic department. Not just the pressure to make football as profitable as possible, but also dealing with the higher levels of university management that easily trump decisions.
ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski underlined that point in a column this week.
Notre Dame is looking for a new athletic director today because it neutered the previous one.
The surgical procedure, done without the benefit of privacy or anesthesia, was performed on Kevin White on Nov. 30, 2004 — the day the school’s president and board of trustees ignored White’s objections and fired football coach Tyrone Willingham. Ever since then, White has been circling overhead, parachute strapped to his back, waiting for the jump light to switch from red to green.
Now, it’s not like Smith is dealing with a low-profile coach at his current job, but he does have a boss in president Gordon Gee who doesn’t seem to get involved in hiring and firing decisions. Some are still concerned about Gee’s seemingly anti-athletics moves in the past, but Ohio State’s broad-based program with so many sports and opportunities might just please him enough.
Not to make the ND job sound like the worst in the country, but Ohio State’s might just be the best.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Comments