Three things to know about the new athletic director at Ohio State
Columbus, Ohio Ohio State has now appointed a successor to Gene Smith, who will be leaving his position as athletic director to enter retirement.
After 19 years in the position, Smith will be replaced as the ninth athletic director in school history by Ross Bjork. His hiring coincides with the beginning of a new era in college football, one marked by growing conferences and a 12-team College Football Playoff. Additionally, Ted Carter, the new president of Ohio State who has been in office since January 1, was hired only a few months prior to his arrival.
Bjork officially started working on July 1st, but Smith will stay in the position until June 30th
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Five things about Ohio State’s new AD to be aware of are as follows:
Similar to Smith, Bjork has experience playing football at the collegiate level and is coming to Columbus.
From 1991 to 1994, he was Emporia State’s fullback. The Emporia, Kansas-based Division II Hornets compete in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
This will be the fourth place has served as athletic director. His first stint as such came at Western Kentucky from 2010-12 where he was the youngest athletic director among all 120 NCAA FBS schools at the time of his hiring. He then moved on to Ole Miss where he spent the bulk of his career from 2012-19.
From a football perspective, he took over the job at the same time Hugh Freeze took over the football program. He eventually fired Freeze following a 5-7 season in 2016, replacing him with Matt Luke, who went 15-21 during Bjork’s final three years at the school.
