Will Gee survive?
99.99% of the time BUT in this case I think Gee may be backing himself into a corner. Normally this is something that doesn't touch the President, just the AD.
BUT!
Coming out in vocal support of his AD (dumb), recently saying "his job is safe" (seriously dumb), and that cluster fuck of a press conference with Tressel AND unwittingly publicly lying again with:
"There are no other infractions and this is an isolated issue"
WHOOPS.
The public nature of these fuckups is a tremendous black eye for OSU and it's image even beyond football with Gee's comments. The fact that at this point he still supports his AD one would have to seriously question his judgement. While I understand he has done great things for the university, I am not totally convinced he survives this.
He will 'retire' within the year....
I thought Gee should be fired the minute I saw his tweedy little bowtie. What a prick.
And I'll say it again:
Dhani Jones agrees with the Doctor:
An equally revealing commentary, offered up by none other than Gee himself, ran alongside that story. Mistakes were made, he says, without offering an apology or a hint of culpability. Then he does what every good politician does: he spins.
contrary to popular believe there is a little bit more (not much more, mind you) to OSU than the football program. Aside from this debacle, credible sources peg him as being an excellent university to president. If any other heads should roll it would be the AD, compliance, and most if not all of Tressels staff.
I heard they were building a statue of him and Tressel as we speak.
I think he will probably survive based on what has transpired at this point. If however all the pundits are correct and there is far more damaging stuff out there and we are closer to the beginning than the end then I do not think he will. The AD is gone I think by the time football season comes around or if anything comes out that entails the AD or compliance office were aware of shenanigans. We know they were but so far the NCAA has not said so or leveled such charges, thats what we are forgetting, doesn't matter so much what the media reports as much as what the NCAA finds and can prove.
"... Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Tressel, he's a dead man, Smith, dead, Gee..."
http://www.acmewebpages.com/midi/deadman.wav
Public opinion and public perception drive any University. If Gordon Gee created a research team that cured cancer, the football team's negative publicity in a football-crazy state like Ohio would still be more than the positive press he would get from the academic world.
Since neither TSIO nor Gee will be curing cancer anytime soon, it is a moot point, but the bottom line is that football is extremely important to the alumni base, the taxpayers, and therefore the Board of Trustees. Board members are still human beings, and any long-winded explanations of how much "good" Gee has done in other areas will fall on deaf ears.
The football team is in the process of making TSIO the "poster child" for unethical behavior. That unethical behavior happened on Gee's watch. Gee's rather unfortunate use of self-depricating humor concerning Tressel will be seen as "evidence" that he enabled the unethical behavior. The Board of Trustees will want to disassociate themselves from everyone even peripherally involved.
As soon as the NCAA puts the hammer down on TSIO, Gee is gone.
E. Gordon Gee Lavatory Complex: For the past three Spring Weekends, a sign has graced a bunch of Port-a-Potties to commemorate Brown’s shortest-tenured president. It is the only thing named after him on campus. Ever.
From the Brown Daily Herald. And here's a picture:
It's not likely at all that Gee gets fired, but the possibility does exist. I just think it's funny to contemplate that one email way back in April 2010 by some no-name lawyer has already brought down the football coach, could bring down the athletic director, and might just, if the OSU board is in a particularly bad mood, bring down the school president. For want of a nail, etc.
OSU is a powerhouse in terms of attracting external funding for research. Gee is a huge part of that. So, no, he's not going anywhere.
maybe Gee can just quickly jump to yet another university, ducking all of this controvery.
i hear that our lady of the little sisters of the poor is hiring.
Depends on, um, How Deep It Went. If the scandal stops here, he might save his bony ass; if it goes deeper, no way. The fallout, coupled with his infamous crack about firing Tressel, will turn the entire school into a punchline (or, rather, a bigger one than it already is). I'm sure the school's regents are already feeling trigger-happy. OSU, which dominates the state in every way, isn't reliant on Gee; its next president, by selling a "clean slate" and all that, will have no problem raising money.
he is now widely understood to be a fool in a bowtie. Only Dhani Jones can pull that sh*t off, and he's a poet.
Although I agree that football is a small part of any university, public perception is a large part. OSU has always been fighting against the image of them as a mediocre university run by its athletic department. The actions of Tressel, Smith, and Gee have really set them back as they try to overcome this image. If it weren't for his unfortunate comments, Gee could better distance himself from these events, which are giving the university a big black eye as regards public opinion. Though it is still somewhat unlikely, the coach may still end up dismissing Gee.
He wasn't doing his job in the first place, so why should he care if he did lose it?
How about Gee vs. Gene in an octagon match? Whoever wins keeps his job.
That would be one too many.
Also for some reason I picture Gee using a cane of some type, so it wouldn't be fair. I say just suspend them for two games.
By the way, congratulations on breaking the 4,000-point barrier. That's almost-but-not-quite half of 10,000 points...junior :-)
So I did the calculations and 4,000 is 40% of 10,000. Glad I have my TI-86.
I'd give your avatar a congratulatory butt-slap but I don't want to catch the Hoosier Syndrome. I'm too busy laughing when I'm on campus. They coincidentally started major road work on the core of campus a few days ago. All of the major bus lines in North Campus have been diverted and there's a ton of congestion with all the extra foot and bus traffic. It feels more like an occupied camp with all the chain-link fence up than a campus. Good thing it'll all be done in "Fall 2011".
When I was in Columbus I met a pledge at my fraternity's chapter there who was a football player. I wonder how his life is right now. I'm guessing not fun, but more fun than their December will be.
I don't think Gee is out because of this....the guy, prior to this incident, had an unquestioned reputation with regards to his governance of academic institutions. I have never heard of a university president being ousted because of a miscue on the part of the athletic department. The AD, on the other hand....well....
If after some time, the rogue actions of the athletic department at The Ohio State University reduce the desire of credible academics, prospective undergraduate, graduate and post graduate students from attending, and endowments steadily decline, and they can be pointed specifically toward this incident. Even if not, those are the things that the schools boards or regents (not familiar enough with TSIO) tend to oust presidents for.
Gee can claim that at the time of his statement, it might have truly seemed like Tressel made a mistake in the best interest of his players. Since then, it looks like not only is this a repeating pattern with Tressel, but perhaps in the athletic department. Smith is expendable and then after that, Gee survives to live another day.
But, having the Chronicle write about it is not necessarily what Gee wanted to have happen either.