Ohio State Football Forum

Ohio State Football Forum

Ohio State football talk.

Gene Smith

klfeck's picture
August 15, 2014 at 4:37pm

I went to the Buckeye Club 110% coaches kickoff meeting Wednesday night and got the pleasure of meeting Gene Smith. We probably talked for about 15 minutes. He was warm and engaging and went from table to table to meet each attendee. I have to admit, I have had my reservations about Smith since the Tressel fiasco, but I must say, I was nothing but impressed. How often do you see a man of his position take the time and expend the effort to circulate and personally interact with the unwashed masses. We talked about Oden, ND, YouTube(he recommended a humorous vid), and his plans to stay at tOSU until he retires. Count me as a supporter. No one is perfect, but from my perspective, tOSU is lucky to have a heavy hitter like Smith.

703Buckeye's picture

Gene is an extremely nice man. I work for UMD and had the chance to meet him during a Maryland/B1G celebration July 1. Spent about 5-10 minutes shooting the breeze with me and even ignored a few phone calls for me. 

-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter

+3 HS
Urbz4President's picture

What sticks out more to me in this comment is the fact that he received 3 phone calls in 5 to 10 minutes. LOL.

BucksfanXC's picture

Everyone in that position has to expect to take some grief from a fan base like OSU. Tressel was criticized quite a bit during his tenor here and now he's a saint/martyr. Gene does a good job and the people that only see the end results and not the effort that goes into it, will never fully appreciate him.


+3 HS
dwcbuckeye's picture

I only clicked on this post because of your avitar.  Never change it

+1 HS
What Would Troy Smith Do's picture

I did the exact same thing and I agree.

+1 HS
buckeyeguy0615's picture


+1 HS
Habu71's picture

Smith is well respected in the circles that ADs travel in. All you really have to do is glance at the most recent stories from AA. concerning their AD to fully appreciate him. 

+3 HS
The Urban Legend's picture

Cool as the other side of the pillow

The Legend continues

TheVictoryBell45's picture

Did you happen to ask him why he removed the grey stripes from our home jersey sleeves & why our tickets are the most expensive in college football? I'm sure he wouldn't have stuck around for a FAMU question. 

clogan1032's picture

In response to the ticket question the answer is very simple, if the market will bear it you grab every penny you can. You can always lower them if need be, the need simply isn't there. 

TheBigCat's picture

There is a balance here.  The athletic department of a state school should not have the same pricing strategy as a fortune 500 company.  They need to generate enough revenue to allow them to continue to subsidize the non-revenue generating sports, while also having enough to re-invest into strategic initiatives, like stadium expansion,s etc.  They should be able to do this while also keeping prices at a point where your average family can still afford to take in a game without breaking the bank, and I think we're quickly approaching a point where that is no longer possible.

I'd prefer we not test price elasticity and realize we've hit our ceiling when there are 10,000 open seats in the stadium, because people refuse to pay $160/ticket to see OSU beat UNLV by 80 points.  For an example, see TSUN as exhibit A.

+1 HS