Gene Smith will retire as Ohio State's athletics director on June 30, 2024, he announced Wednesday.
Smith leads one of the nation's largest athletics department, in more ways than one. The Buckeyes sponsor 33 varsity sports and reported $251 million in revenue in the most recent fiscal year.
Smith has run the department since 2005, and sat in the AD's chair at Arizona State, Iowa State and Eastern Michigan before that. Because of his post and his common-sense delivery, Smith is among the most influential voices in college athletics.
"I want to thank the leadership of The Ohio State University during my tenure for providing me the opportunity to serve as senior vice president and Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletic Director for the past 18 years," Smith said in a statement. "The presidents and many members of the Board of Trustees I have served afforded me the professional opportunity of a lifetime, and I am forever grateful. I have always believed that a leader seeks to be the right person at the right time in the life of the institution."
Gene Smith with a powerful reflection on being the most prominent Black athletic director of his generation.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) August 9, 2023
"I didn't see it as a burden. But in the early years, I knew I couldn't fail. ... If I failed, it would have been, 'See, they can't do it.' I'm proud of that."
In the football space, Smith's tenure was checkered with high highs and low lows. There was the 2011 Tattoogate scandal (which would have been within the rules today) in which five prominent Buckeye players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor were suspended for trading gear and memorabilia for free tattoos. The fallout from that cost longtime head coach Jim Tressel his job. Smith recounted that period as the most difficult of his tenure. "2011 was hell," Smith said Wednesday.
There was also the Zach Smith saga of 2018, in which the then-Buckeyes wide receivers coach was accused of domestic abuse. The investigation into that resulted in a 3-game suspension of head coach Urban Meyer, and Meyer stepped away after that season.
Ohio State football proved recession-proof under Smith's leadership, however. The Buckeyes transitioned from Tressel to Meyer (with one season under Luke Fickell in between) and from Meyer to Ryan Day, and won more than 80 percent of their games along the way.
Ohio State won the 2014 national championship, the first of the College Football Playoff era, and played for titles in 2006, 2007 and 2020. Overall, Ohio State claims at least a share of 11 Big Ten championships and New Year's Six appearances with Smith at the helm.
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