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.

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.