Ohio
Ohio State to pay search firm $125K 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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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kylee Kitts scored 13 points, Jaloni Cambridge added 11 and No. 21 Ohio State rolled past Norfolk State 79-45 on Thursday night for its eighth straight win.
Dasha Biriuk added 10 points for Ohio State, which is 10-1 overall and 7-0 at home.
Kitts was 6 of 12 from the field, and grabbed 10 rebounds to go with two steals and two blocks. Cambridge was 4-of-8 shooting and had eight rebounds and two steals.
Cambridge scored seven points in the first quarter as the Buckeyes jumped out to a 20-10 lead and built a 43-21 halftime advantage. Kitts and Cambridge each scored nine first-half points.
Ohio State outrebounded Norfolk State 55-32 and scored 21 points off 17 turnovers.
Jasha Clinton scored 18 points to lead Norfolk State (5-9). Ciara Bailey had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Up next
Norfolk State plays at Elon on Sunday.
Ohio State hosts Western Michigan on Mondahy.
___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio is part of a multistate lawsuit settlement against home improvement store Menards.
According to the state Attorney General’s Office, Ohio and nine other states reached the settlement with Menards, a Wisconsin-based home-improvement retail store, over allegations of deceptive rebate advertising.
The 10-state led investigation revealed that Menards would give shoppers the impression that they were getting an immediate discount while shopping through its advertising, when in fact, savings actually came in the form of a rebate or in-store credit.
The investigation raised concerns with Menards’ marketing strategy and sales practices, alleging the following of the company:
- Advertised 11% off or 11% off everything that suggested an instant price cut, even though customers received only a rebate on future purchases.
- Listed prices already at an 11% discount, reinforcing the idea that shoppers were getting an in-store discount.
- Failed to clearly explain the important limits of the rebate program, burying key details in the fine print.
- Tell customers that Rebates International was a separate company handling rebates, even though it is operated by Menards itself.
The settlement, announced Thursday, included an agreement by Menards that it would, in part, discontinue ads suggesting immediate discounts, clearly explaining the rules, limits, and conditions of its rebate program, and offer customers an easier path towards claiming rebates, both in person and online, among other changes.
In addition, Menards will pay participating states $4.25 million in fees, of which $365,173.05 will go toward the Ohio Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Enforcement Fund.
The honors continue to roll in for this Ohio State Buckeyes football team.
From young players ready for another College Football Playoff run next season to players hungry for one more run starting December 31 before the NFL Draft, this Ohio State Buckeyes team is loaded with talent headed into their seventh playoffs appearance since the CFP era began in 2014.
Five defensive players and four offensive players headlined a class of extremely talented Buckeyes. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza took the No. 1 spot to go along with his Heisman and Maxwell honors.
An offensive Ohio State Buckeye took the No. 2 spot right behind Mendoza.
Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith takes the No. 2 spot
Jeremiah Smith was ranked behind Mendoza along with his gun-slinging sophomore quarterback. Julian Sayin was the second-highest ranked quarterback on the list at No. 5.
“Smith caught 80 balls for 1,086 yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore, but that doesn’t really tell the story…Smith commands double-teams constantly, draws the attention of everyone’s best corner, and has every defensive coordinator he faces scheming to slow him down. And none of it has mattered.”
ESPN’s David Hale
Smith is expected to have one more dominant season with the Buckeyes next season where fans hope to see him paired next to five-star recruit Chris Henry Jr. Senior wide receiver Carnell Tate has been an impressive receiving mate for Smith the past two seasons. Tate caught 48 passes, nine touchdowns, and had 838 yards. He ranked No. 26 in the rankings.
Offensive tackle Austin Siereveld ranked No. 44 as well.
The defense takes over
All five of Ohio State’s defensive players on the list ranked inside the top-22. Junior linebacker Sonny Styles sat at No. 21 to kick things off for the defense. The Buckeyes have had the best defense in college football for the entire season and these are the names that have made it happen. Projected first round NFL Draft Arvell Reese took the No. 16 spot.
“A new set of stars emerged to lead the nation’s No. 1 defense this fall, and Reese was undeniably front and center. He has thrived under new coordinator Matt Patricia, recording 6.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss from the edge position and finished second on the squad with 62 total tackles…Reese was named Big Ten’s Linebacker of the Year and recorded a sack in six of Ohio State’s first eight games of the season.”
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg
Defensive linemen Kayden McDonald and Caden Curry ranked at No. 13 and No. 11 respectively. Safety Caleb Downs was the highest ranked defensive Buckeye at No. 7. Downs is a simply a lockdown player who can play corner or safety while still being able to tackle at a high level. If he chooses to declare for the NFL Draft after the season is over, he’ll be slated to go within the top 10 in most mock drafts.
Opposing quarterbacks only targeted downs 20 times for the entire season. Only nine passes were caught on his watch as the primary defender.
“The longest completion he gave up was 17 yards. A 14-yard completion in the second quarter of the Big Ten title game was the first one he’d given up in nearly two months. There is not a more lockdown corner in the country than Downs.”
ESPN’s David Hale
The Ohio State Buckeyes are waiting for the winner of the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes against the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the College Football Playoffs this Saturday at 12:00pm Eastern on ABC/ESPN.
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