Eleven Warriors

Thanks for clarifying. I'm with ODEEZ330 on this one. I wrote Dr. Gee and said as much after the bowl ban came down, if more $hit hits the fan because of that loser Smith I'm gonna be pissed. What are the implications if there is another LOIC in this situation?

^ Yeah, but a cover-up would be.

To be fair, judgement on Smith is hardly rushed after last year's debacle

People out for Gene's blood have such tunnel vision... i just shake my head

I will agree people are seeming to lob every bit of blame Gene Smith's way when it comes to anything negative at the university. I don't exactly think he's great but good grief. Smith, Gee, UFM, and everyone involved were not expecting a bowl ban to come down. Why is Smith the only one ridiculed over it? Sure he took a risk and in hindsight it's easy to say should've done this or that...but no one was really expecting a ban. As far as tat-gate I don't really know how he was somehow involved in the whole thing like people conspire...it did come from the compliance department that reports to him that Tressel knew about Rife. He could've shut that whole thing down rather than reporting it. This case, the first thing is to blame Smith. How? I'm not sure. Maybe I don't have all the facts on it, but a small revenue sports coach was possibly stealing petty cash and Smith fired him...and that's Smith's fault how?

He's certainly not my favorite person in the world or anything...but it's getting a bit over the top.

@bucks4real

I wasn't trying to imply that that's what you were trying to imply. It was more so the reaction immediately after the OP by several people on the thread trying to insinuate Gene's at fault for this somehow.

I have the inside scoop on this.

What is being referenced is something that happened even after Gary was fired. Something shady happened. It was technically legal, but it was shady, and assistant coach Kevin Mannon (who was far and away the best assistant on the staff) was so pissed off that he resigned.

It wasn't Gene's fault from what I've been told. In fact, after many conversations with a lot of people involved with the OSU athletic department, I've been told multiple times that the mishandling of TatGate and DiGeronimo wasn't Gene's fault either (I had previously been harsh in my criticism of him like many of you). I'm not going to name names or repeat what is essentially hearsay eveidence, but it was someone MUCH more significant than Gene that was effing things up.

Again, it's just what I've been told. You can question my credibility, but BTalbert knows who my friends are, and I think he'd back me up on this.

@Hodge,

From what I understand, it's more along the lines of promising favors, none of which were promised to athletes. Think more along the lines of Washington DC lobbying. It's legal, but it's shady. None of it involved athletes, just coaches and a certain coaching candidate. I'll have more details tonight. Put it this way, if Petrino lining up a job for his mistress isn't an NCAA violation, this isn't either. But it's still wrong. (side note: it doesn't involve mistresses or anything, I was just using that as an example of how certain practices involving coaches and staffing are outside the realm of the NCAA... however, former coach Robert Gary most certainly lobbied for his mistress to get the women's cross country job after he knocked her up, while he was married to someone else, no less)

Kevin Mannon is a huge loss for OSU. 15 NCAA qualifiers, seven All-Americans, five Big Ten champions, eighth conference runner-ups and 32 regional qualifiers in eight seasons. That's not easy when you're a throws coach and you only have a limited number of throwers and throwing events to work with (as opposed to a sprinting coach who has dozens of sprinters and many more events in which to run them).   

I've been as dismissive of Gene Smith as anyone, but after reading well informed pieces defending him (Pam comes to mind, there were other posters that have slipped my memory), I'm inclined to give Smith the benefit of the doubt on this until the details come out.

The truth is, the athletic department as a whole has flourished under him like it never has before. Football, both Men's and Women's basketball, men's soccer even made the NC game (in the year Florida kept destroying us in sports). BUT, my lack of comfort with Smith at the reigns of our athletic department is based on the following: First, he just comes off like he doesn't have much of a clue or any control. He's very casual in interviews, and has been known to put his foot in his mouth. I'm not saying this makes him a bad AD, he just needs some serious PR coaching. Or public speaking courses (I'm sure we have great classes on this  at OSU). Second, and more importantly for me, is the general sense coming out of programs he's around that shady stuff is going on. I was around ASU when he was there, and knew a lot of athletes that had some pretty eye opening things to say (take that with a grain of salt, but enough of them independently had similar stories that you have to think smoke = fire). Now at OSU a lot of stuff is coming to light, again. I know he's not the one perpetrating ANY of this stuff, but it just sort of seems to find it's way into his house. Maybe it's just coincidence (I hope) or maybe he's paterno'ing (looking the other way).

Either way I'd like to see the incidents stop, other than the "someone bought a stick of gum for 15 cents for a stranger who happened to be 5th cousins twice removed with a recruits girlfriend's dog walker" type violations. Hopefully the reinvigorated compliance department starts getting on top of this stuff quickly.

@NCBuckeye

I used the lobbying thing as an example of a practice that is legal but is almost unanimously agreed upon as shady by us common folk outside the beltway. This athletic department/track issue does not involve Washington DC in any way, shape, or form.

@Buckeyetrack

See you at Natigate on Sept. 1st?