Cleveland, OH
Ohio State officially hires longtime SEC athletic director to lead Buckeye sports
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State has decided on the first new leader for its athletic department in nearly 20 years.
Texas A&M’s Ross Bjork will succeed Gene Smith, the school announced Wednesday. His identity as the frontrunner became widely reported on Tuesday.
Per a news release, Bjork will begin his duties July 1, pending approval by the OSU Board of Trustees. An introductory news conference will be held Wednesday.
Bjork, 51, is in his fifth year as A&M’s athletic director. While he has no background as an administrator in the Big Ten, he has spent the past 12 years as one in the most high profile football conference in the nation. Prior to A&M, he spent seven years at Ole Miss.
“Few athletics directors have established such an impressive and strong record of success in athletics, in the classroom and throughout the community,” Ohio State president Ted Carter said in the release. “The bar is incredibly high at Ohio State, and we have found in Ross a highly intelligent and effective leader — not to mention a fierce competitor.”
Smith announced his retirement, effective at the end of the school year, in August. Bjork’s hire became official barely two weeks after new president Carter began his duties. A 14-person search advisory committee began working last October to “nominate candidates and provide input and feedback to the search firm, Collegiate Sports Associates.”
Bjork is stepping up from an athletic program of 20 sports with more than 600 athletes to the largest in the country — boasting 36 programs and 1,000 athletes. His achievements at A&M included new school records in overall grade point average and the NCAA’s Graduate Success Rate and Academic Progress Rate. Recently he led the launch of the largest fundraising campaign in that athletic department’s history, which included redevelopment of the football complex.
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Bjork also worked with the Texas legislature to develop a name, image and likeness law in Spring 2021. He also oversaw the creation of programs which provided athletes assistance with “finance, personal branding, networking and media training.”
He then oversaw the creation of AMPLIFY and AMPLIFY Local Exchange, which equips student-athletes with education and resources related to finance, personal branding, networking and media training.
“I have been extraordinarily blessed to be a product of college athletics as a student-athlete and fortunate to work with so many outstanding student-athletes, coaches, staff and university leaders throughout my career, and Ohio State represents the culmination of these efforts,” Bjork said in the release. “To be a part of Buckeye Nation, along with its storied traditions and long history of achievement, is a tremendous honor and a welcome challenge for me and our family. I can’t wait to get started.”
While Bjork arrives with significant major conference football experience, he also comes with some baggage related to his football coaches.
Bjork defended Ole Miss football coach against a multitude of charges by the NCAA of rules violations, including failure-to-monitor by the coach and a lack of institutional control. The NCAA infractions committee accused Ole Miss of “an unconstrained culture of booster involvement in football recruiting.”
Freeze was eventually fired.
At A&M, Bjork was the AD when coach Jimbo Fisher was given a fully guaranteed contract extension in 2021. When he fired Fisher after last season, it necessitated a $76 million buyout.
Bjork’s first athletic director experience came at Western Kentucky (2010-12) after five years as senior associate athletic director at UCLA.
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Cleveland, OH
Cleveland police arrest suspect in involuntary manslaughter investigation, find fentanyl and PCP
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The Cleveland Division of Police worked with multiple agencies to arrest a man in an investigation into involuntary manslaughter and found drugs during a police search Wednesday.
The Cleveland Division of Police Narcotics Unit worked with the U.S. Marshals Task Force to arrest 33-year-old James Williams as part of the division’s Violent Crime Reduction efforts.
Williams was taken into custody in the Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood in Cleveland’s Fourth District Wednesday.
He was previously wanted on an involuntary manslaughter investigation warrant in connection with three fatal drug overdoses, police say.
In November 2025, Williams was identified by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office as one of 37 suspects in a large-scale drug trafficking organization.
Police say that during the investigation into Williams, they seized thousands of grams of illegal narcotics.
After Williams’ arrest, the Narcotics Unit executed a search of his home.
During the search, police say the unit found 83 grams of suspected cocaine, 76 grams of suspected fentanyl and 824 grams of suspected PCP.
Investigators say they seized numerous items associated with drug manufacturing and distribution that contained suspected drug residue.
Investigators say Williams was involved in distributing dangerous narcotics, including mixtures containing fentanyl and xylazine, a drug commonly used as a tranquilizer for animals.
Police say when xylazine is mixed with fentanyl, it can increase the risk of overdose and death.
Police said Narcan can reverse the opioid effects of fentanyl, but it cannot reverse the effects of xylazine, which makes those overdoses dangerous and in need of medical intervention.
“Every day, these men and women dedicate countless hours to complex investigations aimed at removing violent offenders, illegal firearms, and dangerous narcotics from our neighborhoods. We remain deeply concerned about the presence of Xylazine, a dangerous substance that does not respond to Narcan and is contributing to fatal overdoses,” Chief Dorothy Todd said. “We are grateful for the continued dedication of our local, state, and federal partners as we work together to reduce violent crime, disrupt criminal organizations, and keep Cleveland’s residents safe.”
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
Cleveland, OH
Woman killed, several children injured in Ohio Turnpike crash in Lorain County
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A 28-year-old woman is dead, and three children are hospitalized following a one-car rollover accident in Elyria Township in the eastbound lanes of the Ohio Turnpike.
The crash happened around 11:54 a.m. at milepost 146.3.
During the investigation of the crash OSHP learned that the crash happened when the Toyota RAV4, driven by Najalee N. Rivera, drove off the right side of the road, struck a guardrail, and overturned.
The vehicle was also occupied by three children. A 7-year-old boy, a 8-year-old girl, and 4-year-old girl all from Lorain, they all suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were transported by LifeCare Ambulance to University Elyria Hospital.
Rivera was not wearing a safety belt at the time of the crash, according to OSHP.
Two of the lanes were reopened about 4:15 p.m., according to a social media post from the Ohio Turnpike.
Check back with 19 News for the latest on this story.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
Cleveland, OH
LOOK: Remembering the Cavs championship win, victory parade 10 years later
CLEVELAND (WJW) — Ten years ago, Cleveland experienced one of the most unforgettable moments in the city’s history.
The Cavaliers became the first-ever team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a championship. By winning the 2016 NBA Finals, they also ended a 52-year championship drought for Cleveland.
Mr. Cavalier, Austin Carr, said he still relishes that moment 10 years later.
“The odds we overcame to win that championship,” he said. “Not only did we have to win three straight games, but we also had to have the right things happen at the right moment in order to win it. And that just tells me how difficult it is … with ‘The Shot’, ‘The Block’, and the defensive move. All those. It was just meant to be.”
The victory over the Golden State Warriors catapulted LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith and the rest of the crew into essential Northeast Ohio sainthood.
When Akron’s own James screamed the now-famous phrase, “Cleveland, this is for you!” following the game, a whole legion of Cleveland fans around the country wept and cheered along with him.

When Smith refused to put a shirt on for what seemed like a whole summer in honor of the win, it felt right and proper.
Whenever the long-since traded Irving comes back to town, he’s remembered for his important 3-pointer at the end of Game 7 and not the way he left the team.
And the city made history again just a few days later, when more than 1.3 million people flooded downtown Cleveland for the championship parade. According to the Cavs, it remains the largest NBA championship parade ever.
The current Cavaliers (now in their Donovan Mitchell era) haven’t been back to the NBA Finals. They reached the conference finals this past spring for the first time since 2018. But a finals appearance has still eluded the wine and gold.
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