Ohio State: the most blindly loyal and recklessly protective culture in college sports
Matt Hayes of the Sporting News (whose wife went to OSU) just destroys Ohio in his column today:
Considering what happened at Penn State, those are some strong words.
I think the article is too hyperbolic, but it's not far off. But what in that article isn't true? Gee has publicly made a fool of himself on several occasions, Tressel--whom I actually believed was a class act until the scandal--lied repeatedly AND used a dirty ploy to keep star players on campus, and Pryor...well, yeah.
Like most reporting these days, the writing is over-the-top and emotional, but you can't argue the facts: Ohio will ignore scandal if it suits them.
I heard someone mention this on ESPN and I agree that one of the biggest issues here is not that the university's ideals were in contrast with Gee's behavior, but that it became public information. He said this stuff a while ago and him saying it apparently isn't the problem, or at least not enough of a problem to cause the university to react. Only when his behavior becomes public information does it draw a reaction from the university. When it's not someone's behavior that's the problem, but rather whether that behavior becomes public, is an ethical issue for the university.
"The legion of Ohio Staters—a vocal, vicious and vacuous fan base—would have defended all three and kept all three had it not been for that pesky thing we like to call the truth."
Now that's good stuff.
The only thing that doesn't make sense is the discussion of the championship with Krenzel. I think the author forgot who was manning the RB position at that time.
"Nobody does crazy like Ohio State."
Most accurate sentence EVER.
Sleep with one eye open, Matt Hayes. We saw what America's worst fan base did to Herby when he had the nerve to call out OSU on their warped version of integrity.
I personally wasn't offended but Gee's comments, but many of his comments over the years have been pretty downright childish and unbecoming of someone in his position. The man is entitled to his opinion, and he and I happen to have common ground on some things, but these are things you keep in private. Especially when you're the head of a major public university. I'm shocked that he didn't stop to think beforehand how much he might offend OSU Catholic alums, donors no less, by saying what he said. Or his former colleagues back at Vandy. But he's got a long track record of opening his mouth before thinking things through, so I shouldn't be surprised.
He might be a great supporter and fundraiser for the university, but he's a damn buffoon, and he needed to be shown the door.
"Same Ole Shit " camp. Gee is just another in a long line of bad decisions being made at that (win at any cost) Ohio. This is the same school who fired Earl Bruce the day before the Michigan game? Had the U of M team bus pulled over shortly after the 911 tradgedy on a bogus bomb threat? the suspects of course were never caught... I used to say "Boy! if Woody were alive to see this he would be turning over in his grave.....I have now said that so many times since he passed (God rest his soul) he would have spun a hole to China by now. So yeah I would believe anything that school might try in the blind effort to win at any cost and or beat Michigan.....
I hate Ohio too, but the 9/11 tragedy was in 2001 when the game was in Michigan two months later - how would Ohio have gotten the Michigan team bus pulled over for a bomb check?
Tressel was asked about the incident in the post game presser and repeated the lie that it was their standard practice. That struck as very suspicious as to his involvement. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/2004-11-24-carr-osu-dogs_x.htm
i hate ohio as much as anyone but i do think it sucks the guy got fired after talking trash about other teams in front of ohio fans. was what he said stupid? sure but Gee does this all the time. Gee was fired because the coaches at ohio know they will have to answer questions everytimethey recruit a catholic person or at a catholic school. i never like to see someone get fired for speaking their mind but i understand it.
You have to bear in mind that Gee is an administrator at an institute of higher learning. He is supposed to be an educator above all else. He is not a football coach. His business should be education, not football. The university's self proclaimed purpose is "to advance the well-being of the people of Ohio and the global community through the creation and dissemination of knowledge". Their core values include the pursuit of knowledge, igniting a love of learning in their students, making the world a better place, and celebrating diversity among others. These are the values a president should be discussing...not football and mockery. If anything he should be tying these themes into being a student athlete versus whatever the heck it is he is doing. So, to make a long story short, is it OK for a football coach to trash talk other teams privately...yes. Is it OK for the president of the university to do so publicly...absolutely not.
He got fired for the Catholic comment. Take that out, and he's still in place and it's just a bunch of grumbling about how even though it's true, you can't say it in public.
my problem isnt so much with this story as much as i just have a problem with the whole pc scene in this country. i understand his commets were dumb and the school had to make this move. i'm just sick of people caring so much what someone else says. if it was ohios view to fire him for his comments, then do it in december. not june.
I unforunately have too many OSU friends, as I live far from home, but here's my take on what they actually think about these various people (please note: these are not my opinions).
Tressel was a good guy and a great coach who was a victim of circumstance, maybe a bit like Fisher. Gee is/was funny. Pryor was sort of a douche who was pretty strongly disliked by the time he was trying to get in the draft or the extended draft, whatever it was. People were skeptical of Urban, keep in mind the Bucks are not too fond of Florida, upon the hiring but were tolerant of the move because of his obvious pedigree. He has since won them over.
They also think they are still way better than us with their undefeated season and that the best we could do is "barely beat" them two years ago. Personally, I honestly bet we beat them the next three seasons.
OSU fans babbling about how the only reason we beat them in 2011 was because Braxton had several key overthrows, and it was the "worst Ohio State team in decades, which we still barely beat." Most, if not all OSU fans will never come out and say "Well, Michigan was just the better team that day." There's only excuses so they can justify the loss when they go to sleep at night.
Its the same thing with Gee. Now, I don't think Gee is a bad person, but he's an idiot who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. He's embarrassed the university on several occasions, but naturally, OSU fans will jump to his defense and say its the media's fault. You defend your school and the people in it, because you don't want to see or admit its flaws. And I have no doubt that if it was Mary Sue Coleman making these remarks, Eleven Warriors would be up in arms sputtering about how she's a horrible, ignorant woman and she needs to be fired.
"Your president made a fool of himself two years ago when he said he hoped the coach who had just been exposed as a three-time liar to the NCAA didn’t fire him." - from the article
In other places in the world, it seems, this incident would perhaps announce the potential downfall of a President, even if the remark is in jest. Clearly, as the man with hire/fire authority over most of the people in the room at the time, you don't want to come across as someone who cowers in the face of the any one program, and that's exactly what happened in this moment for Gee. This is where, as someone who should be leading, he should have lost people and possibly his credibility to make decisions for the school. It's amazing what you can get away with and how long you can get away with it when your office is clearly not entirely in command of the values or mission of the school.
Part of me is sorry to see GG go, as he was a gift that kept on giving. If I were an OSU alumnus who'd somehow managed to emerge with a lick of sense*, I'd be thinking thank goodness and bad riddance. In this media climate anyone in his position cannot repeatedly say anything deemed "offensive" or "controversial" and expect to survive.
*See in dictionary under "oxymoron."
For your definition of "oxymoron".
is that most of us have said the same thing: ND and the SEC sucks and don't turn your back on a catholic priest (on any day) or question whether the Earth is the center of all things.
and it doesn't matter because what we do for a living doesn't have anything to do with what we say, and most of us are nominally anonymous unless somebody cares enough to find out. Gee was in a much more public position that's openly accountable to a wide range of people, and you can't say the kind of stuff he did repeatedly without it eventually biting you in the ass.
I can't dislike him for what he said. Might have been appropriate for Gee the man, but not Gee the Prez of OSU.
The question is why didn't he realize that and shut his yapper? Maybe he was just too old and didn't care.
is the former chancellor of Vanderbilt and the former president of Brown. Isn't Michigan searching for a new prez? Please know that I jest.
Valar Morghulis.
Gee was a great self promoter and apparently a good fund raiser too. Honestly, I'm surprised they let him get away with his shennanigans as long as they did. His travel and expense accounts were obscene, he gave out trinkets promoting himself (bowtie cookies, etc,). He was making the news more for his antics or personal quirks than for promoting the university. I could almost see him sitting in the presidential suite for his latest travel, and after room service with the most expensive wine and meal on the list, muttering to himself over and over "winner, winner!"
in the comments section. One was deflty trying to argue that Ohio's three straight finishes ahead of Michigan in the Directors Cup are more relevant than UM's lead this year and the 12 other times Michigan finished ahead of Ohio in the standings. (Ohio has only finished ahead of UM 5 times). I pointed this out and referenced 1912 which of course, is totally nonsensical as the Cup has only been around since 1994.
This same bozo cannot read a balance sheet. He was commenting on how Ohio was more profitable. But once I read his link it became obvious that he confused revenue with profit. Once I pointed out that UM is more profitable by 7 million he stated that since UM's expenses went up by 30 million over the past few years that they would surely cease to be profitable soon. Apparently he thinks Brandon is so stupid that he won't address these increases in some fashion.
was arguing with anyone in the comments section of anything. No one has ever been persuaded of anything in a website comments section. Ever. Right?
Oh, wait... crap.
I am actually amazed at the restraint OSU's fanbase has shown as far as not having made death threats to Matt Hayes, Bravo, people, bravo!
ever uttered from a buckeye
"As long as we win", pretty much says everything
The article about sums it up. No one does crazy or arrogance like Ohio...
I never laughed so hard today when I trolled the 11W site and saw how those delusional fools blamed everyone but Gee for his arrogance and stupidity.
Did anyone click on the link to the article about Meyer in this story? It's over a year old so it may have been posted on this board back when it was first released but it is a pretty interesting read.
The coveted "triple V:"
vocal, vicious and vacuous fan base
Normally I would insert my typical "This is a Michigan blog" comment, but this thread is alright because that article is, word-for-word, correct. The only people who don't believe it are buckeye honks.