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Ohio State to pay search firm $125K for help in hiring of Ross Bjork as athletic director

Published

10 months ago

January 22, 2024

Ohio State to pay search firm 5K for help in hiring of Ross Bjork as athletic director

Ohio State is set to pay $125,000 to a search firm that assisted with the hiring of Ross Bjork as its next athletic director.

The school retained Collegiate Sports Associates to help find candidates to replace Gene Smith, who is retiring at the end of June after nearly two decades leading the Buckeyes’ athletic department.

According to a copy of an invoice obtained by The Dispatch through a public records request, CSA charged $62,500 for executive search services last October.

An additional professional fee payment of $62,500 from Ohio State is due later this year, a school spokesperson said. Bjork begins his tenure as athletic director on July 1 and will also be a senior advisor for the Buckeyes starting in March.

CSA is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was founded in 2010 by Todd Turner, a former athletic director at Connecticut, North Carolina State, Vanderbilt and Washington.

The firm has assisted with the placement of athletic directors at 43 Division I schools, including Georgia, Michigan State and Nebraska, among others, as listed on its website.

More: New Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork to make $2 million a year as part of contract

It’s also been involved with searches for football coaches, men’s and women’s basketball coaches, other administrators and conference commissioners between the Big South Conference and Southern Conference.

The one-page invoice does not specify the services provided by CSA in Ohio State’s search for an athletic director in recent months, but firms typically aid schools by vetting a pool of candidates and contacting them.

Bjork, who has been the athletic director at Texas A&M since 2019, said last week that CSA reached out to him “right before” the Christmas and holiday season.

CSA worked with a search advisory committee of 14 people that OSU formed last fall in order to “help nominate candidates and provide input and feedback.”

Ted Carter received a list of finalists from the advisory committee when he began his tenure as the university’s president earlier this month, leading to final interviews.

Carter did not identify other finalists last week at a news conference introducing Bjork, though The Dispatch learned that Pat Chun, the Washington State athletic director who worked in Ohio State’s athletic department from 1997-2012, was among them.

More: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy

Since becoming an athletic director at Western Kentucky in 2010, Bjork has built a reputation as a strong fundraiser.

In the 51-year-old administrator’s most recent stop, he led one of the largest fundraising campaigns in the history of Texas A&M’s athletic department, a capital campaign that resulted in the construction of several facilities, including an indoor football complex.

Jeff Toole, the athletic department’s chief financial officer, told USA TODAY Sports last week that it has put $270 million in projects.

But Bjork also brings some baggage to Columbus, largely from his role in two high-profile coaching controversies.

He gave former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher a mammoth contract extension in 2021 that resulted in a record $77 million buyout when he was fired two years later.

Previously as the athletic director at Mississippi, he defended former coach Hugh Freeze amid an NCAA investigation that included 21 rules violations. Freeze was later implicated in the infractions case and resigned after it was found he made a phone call to a number tied to an escort service.

And Mississippi settled a lawsuit with the coach who preceded Freeze, Houston Nutt, after Nutt claimed that school officials made false statements regarding him during the NCAA investigation into Freeze’s violations.

“Certain statements made by university employees in January 2016 appear to have contributed to misleading media reports about Coach Nutt,” the university conceded in a statement following the settlement. “To the extent any such statements harmed Coach Nutt’s reputation, the university apologizes, as this was not the intent.”

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch and can be reached at jkaufman@dispatch.com.

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Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game

Published

8 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game

Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to take care of business against the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday. Now, they are set to prepare for the massive rivalry matchup against the Michigan Wolverines to end the regular season.

Ohio State has been unable to beat Michigan for the last three years. In order to get a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, they’ll need to snap that losing streak.

At this point in the year, the Buckeyes absolutely look like a national championship favorite. However, there is one weakness that is worth monitoring.

David Pollack, a former star college football linebacker and a current analyst, spoke out about the one weakness that he sees with Ohio State.

“I don’t see a lot of gamewreckers,” Pollack said. “But I don’t see a lot of weaknesses, except at the cornerback spot. I’ve got to address the cornerback spot as a weakness. I’ve seen enough to know. There are enough penalties back there, enough flags, enough big plays that it’s not a strength.”

All season long, the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks have underperformed. Denzel Burke has looked nothing like the expected first-round pick talent that he was being hyped up to be. Davison Igbinosun has been heavily penalized and has struggled as well.

Going up against other elite national championship contenders will be a tough task with a struggling secondary.

Outside of the cornerback position, everything else seems to look solid. If they can fix the issues and get better production out of it, they would be a much more complete contender.

Thankfully, the talent is there for them to improve. Both Burke and Igbinosun are talented players who have simply struggled this season. They are more than capable of turning things around.

All of that being said, the stage has been set for Ohio State and Michigan. On paper, the Buckeyes should be able to dominate the game, but rivalry games can get tricky. It will be interesting to see what ends up happening.

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Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State

Published

16 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State

With just one week remaining in the regular season, there is only one team across all of college football that remains undefeated at this point: the Oregon Ducks.

So, it stands to reason that the undefeated Ducks should be the favorite to end the 2024 hoisting the College Football Playoff National Championship trophy, right?

Not according to SEC Network host and ESPN personality Paul Finebaum.

“I’m ‘Paul Out’ with block letters. I don’t even think Oregon is the best team in the Big Ten, let alone the favorite to win it all,” Finebaum said during Sunday morning’s ‘Paul-In, Paul-Out’ segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “And thanks Ducks fans waking up on the West coast, I’m aware that you beat Ohio State. But Ohio State, to me, looks like the best team in the country.

“I think they’ll have a fun game in a couple of weeks in the Big Ten championship game, and both are going to go to the Playoffs and be in very good shape. But Oregon, to me, looks a tad below Ohio State.”

As Finebaum reminded the college football world, this exact matchup has already been decided on the field once this season, with the Ducks eking out a 32-31 win in Eugene in mid-October. While it’s not official yet, all expectations are Oregon (11-0, 8-0 B10) and Ohio State (10-1, 7-1) will meet again in the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.

But in the meantime, Finebaum is sticking by the preseason favorite Buckeyes.

Ryan Day wanted to ‘leave no doubt’ vs. Indiana

Ryan Day wanted to leave no doubt during Ohio State’s 38-15 win over Indiana Saturday in Columbus and it certainly worked out by the time the game came to its conclusion.

After trailing 7-0, Ohio State ripped off 31 straight points to erase any opportunity of the Hoosiers pulling off the biggest win in school history. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers came in No. 2 and 5 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

But with Day and Ohio State one step closer to the Big Ten Championship vs. Oregon, they can put this game to rest.

“Game got a flip there with the punt return (for a touchdown by Caleb Downs),” Day told FOX’s Jenny Taft postgame. “I thought, you know, we had a chance to really separate ourselves in the first half. We didn’t do that. I thought we played well in the second half. I thought we played physical all across the board, and our guys had a great look in their eye. And so now it’s onto the rivalry game.”

As far as scoring the final touchdown, despite a 31-15 lead with less than two minutes to go, Day and Ohio State wanted to leave their mark.

“Well, you say, leave no doubt,” Day said. “And you know, these guys want to finish the game the right way. TreVeyon (Henderson) did the right thing going down at the one-yard line. We ate up the clock. We didn’t want to put the defense back out there. You just never know in games like this, it’s a top five matchup. So we wanted to finish it the right way and make sure that everybody knows that this is the Ohio State Buckeyes.”

Nick Kosko contributed to this report.

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College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News

Published

1 day ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News

Ohio State and Notre Dame looked the part of national championship contenders in Week 13.

The Buckeyes – who are No. 2 in this week’s Sporting News Top 25 – came one step closer to a Big Ten championship rematch against No. 1 Oregon. The Buckeyes beat Indiana 38-15, and the Hoosiers dropped to No. 8 as a result.

Now, Ohio State faces Michigan and can break a three-game losing streak in The Game on Nov. 30. To be honest, that’s not the game we want to see.

How about a rematch from last year’s 17-14 thriller against the Irish on Sept. 23, 2023. That was the one where the Buckeyes scored a late touchdown when the Irish had 10 players on the field, and Ohio State coach Ryan Day called out Lou Holtz afterward. How sweet would a rematch in the College Football Playoff be?

Notre Dame moves up to No. 5 after a 49-14 blowout against No. 19 Army at Yankee Stadium. The Irish set up a win-and-in matchup against rival USC, which seemed unthinkable after a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7.

A playoff matchup between the Buckeyes and Irish would not materialize until the quarterfinals or semifinals at this point, but we would take it whenever and wherever it happened. Ohio State has allowed 10.2 points per game since the Oct. 12 loss to the Ducks. The Irish have allowed 11.6 points per game in their last five games. Of the 10-1 teams in the top-10, Ohio State and Notre Dame are on the best trajectory heading into Rivalry Week.

Here is a closer look at The Sporting News top 25 rankings.

MORE: SEC title game scenarios | Big 12 | Big Ten | ACC

Sporting News Top 25 rankings for Week 14

Here is a closer look at our latest top 25 ranking heading into Week 14:

RANK	SCHOOL	RECORD	PVS.	WEEK 12 RESULT
1	Oregon	11-0	1	Bye
2	Ohio State	10-1	2	Beat Indiana 38-15
3	Texas	10-1	3	Beat Kentucky 31-14
4	Penn State	10-1	4	Beat Minnesota 26-25
5	Notre Dame	10-1	6	Beat Army 49-14
6	Miami, Fla.	10-1	10	Beat Wake Forest 42-14
7	Georgia	9-2	9	Beat UMass 59-21
8	Indiana	10-1	5	Lost to Ohio State 38-15
9	Tennessee	9-2	11	Beat UTEP 56-0
10	SMU	10-1	14	Beat Virginia 33-7
11	Boise State	10-1	12	Beat Wyoming 17-13
12	Arizona State	9-2	17	Beat BYU 28-23
13	Iowa State	9-2	20	Beat Utah 31-28
14	BYU	9-2	13	Lost to Arizona State
15	Clemson	9-2	18	Beat The Citadel 51-14
16	Alabama	8-3	7	Lost to Oklahoma 24-3
17	Ole Miss	8-3	8	Lost to Florida 24-17
18	South Carolina	8-3	21	Beat Wofford 56-12
19	Texas A&M	8-3	15	Lost to Auburn 43-41
20	Tulane	9-2	22	Bye
21	Kansas State	8-3	23	Beat Cincinnati 41-15
22	Illinois	8-3	24	Beat Rutgers 38-31
23	Army	9-1	19	Los to Notre Dame 49-14
24	Colorado	8-3	16	Lost to Kansas 37-21
25	Missouri	8-3	NR	Beat Mississippi State 39-20