Texas
Ohio State announces hiring of Texas A&M’s Ross Bjork as next athletic director
Ohio State announced on Tuesday the hiring of Ross Bjork as the successor to Gene Smith as the school’s athletic director.
The OSU board of trustees must approve the hire. Its next scheduled meeting is in February.
Bjork has been the athletic director at Texas A&M for the past five years. Before that, he served in that role at the University of Mississippi from 2012-19. His first job as an athletic director was at Western Kentucky from 2010-12.
Bjork, 51, is a native of Dodge City, Kansas, and graduated from Emporia State where he played fullback on the football team.
“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 press release announcing his hiring. “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.”
Bjork’s hire is the first major one in the tenure of new Ohio State president Ted Carter, who was hired in August and officially began this month.
Ohio State: 5 things you need to know about Ross Bjork, OSU’s expected athletic director hire
“Few athletics directors have established such an impressive and strong record of success in athletics, in the classroom and throughout the community,” Carter said in the press 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.”
Bjork will become the ninth athletic director in school history. Smith, a Cleveland native, has served since 2005 and is regarded as one of the most respected and influential athletic directors in the country. He announced his retirement in August.
Smith’s last day is June 30. Bjork will take over on July 1.
“Ross is uniquely equipped to step into our Buckeye community and make an immediate impact,” Smith said in the release. “As I have said, Ohio State has afforded me the professional opportunity of a lifetime, and I am forever grateful. My final, important project over the next several months will be to work with Ross to ensure a smooth and effective transition with our student-athletes, coaches, department staff and university leaders.”
Bjork has no ties to Ohio or the Big Ten. His tenures overseeing the Ole Miss and Texas A&M have included major controversies.
At Ole Miss, Bjork repeatedly defended then-football coach Hugh Freeze against 21 NCAA rules violation charges, including a failure-to-monitor charge against Freeze and a lack of institutional control. The NCAA infractions committee said Ole Miss had “an unconstrained culture of booster involvement in football recruiting.”
The allegations included charges of a cash payment to a linebacker. Freeze was eventually fired after it came to light from a public records request filed by his predecessor, Houston Nutt, that Freeze had placed at least 12 phone calls to escort services.
At Texas A&M, Bjork fired football coach Jimbo Fisher in November. Fisher was lured to Texas A&M from Florida State in 2017 with a guaranteed, 10-year, $75 million contract. Bjork didn’t become Texas A&M’s AD until 2019, but he extended Fisher’s contract in 2021 through 2031 and allowed it to remain fully guaranteed.
No offset or stipulation was included in the extension to reduce the amount A&M owes Fisher if he takes another job. As a result, the school owed Fisher $76 million.
“It was a mistake, as we look back on it,” Bjork is quoted as saying in a report by Dallas television station WFAA following Fisher’s firing. “There’s a lot of other buyouts where if coaches got let go today, would be more than what our buyout is. But those programs are winning. Ours didn’t work.”
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Saturday started out a bit warm and sticky outside in North Texas, but there will be plenty of sunshine in the afternoon. Temperatures are expected to climb into the upper 80s. Most of the area will stay dry today, but there is a chance for an isolated storm that could reach severe criteria late tonight for counties to the northwest of the metroplex.
Make sure you have an indoor plan for Mother’s Day celebrations tomorrow! Sunday morning will start warm, muggy, and dry for most with the exception of an isolated storm possible along the Red River.
A First Alert Weather Day is in place on Sunday due to a front that will swing across North Texas in the late afternoon through the evening. All modes of severe weather will be likely, but the main threat includes a significant risk of hail up to 2 inches in diameter and winds up to category 1 hurricane strength.
Once the front moves through, cooler temperatures will settle into the forecast on Monday. However, the cool down won’t last long. A warming trend returns and temperatures climb into the 90’s once again at the end of the next week. Stay tuned!
Just days before Mother’s Day, a North Texas father is grieving the sudden loss of his wife and unborn son after she died unexpectedly, only days before her due date. Avi Carey said he is still in shock over the death of his wife, Tiffany, whom he described as his “rock” and “soulmate.”
“Tiffany’s smile, her radiance, her presence … she didn’t meet a stranger,” Carey said.
Nearly two decades together
The couple had been together for nearly two decades, raising two children, Kingston and Kasyn, and preparing to welcome their third child, a baby boy they planned to name Kylo.
Carey said Tiffany began complaining of a severe headache just days before she was due to give birth. He recalled her sitting on the couch, dozing off multiple times – something he said was unusual.
A short time later, Carey found her unresponsive.
“I saw her face … her lips were blue. And I already knew,” he said with tears in his eyes.
A celebration turned to heartbreak
Tiffany Carey and her unborn son died May 2, leaving behind a grieving husband and two children. The loss came less than a week after the family had celebrated a baby shower.
“We went from celebrating the baby shower to planning a funeral in less than five days,” Carey said.
A crisis affecting Black mothers
Health officials say cases like this highlight a broader crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women in the United States are more than three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy‑related causes, and most of those deaths – around 80% – are considered preventable.
Carey said he is still searching for answers and now lives with questions about whether warning signs were missed.
“I would say educate yourself. Take everything seriously,” he said. “That should have been a red flag … the headache.”
Honoring Tiffany’s legacy
Now, surrounded by baby supplies meant for a child who never arrived, Carey said he is focused on honoring Tiffany’s memory and raising their children with the values she lived by.
“She always said, ‘You’ve got to lead with love,’” he said. “She did that in everything.”
Trump administration to release UFO files soon, president says
President Trump said his administration plans to release information and materials relating to UFOs.
Ever look up at the vast Texas sky and see something move across it? It could be a shooting star, a satellite — or a UFO.
The Pentagon released several documents Friday, May 8, detailing sightings of unidentified flying objects, or “bogeys,” in U.S. airspace, including reports from Texas.
The documents were released by the U.S. Department of Defense at the directive of President Donald Trump, marking the release of government files related to “alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)” and UFOs.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in a statement.
Here’s a look at the files related to Texas.
UFO spotted in 1948 above Abilene, Texas
A DoD incident summary shows that on Jan. 1, 1948, a man identified as “Mr. A. Schroeder” reported a UFO in the 1100 block of Highland Ave in Abilene, Texas.
Schroeder reported seeing a stationary bright blue-green bell-shaped object in the western sky above Abilene at 1:25 a.m. and 1:30 a.m.
Fort Worth man sees UFO above Alaska
Also in 1948, Lt. Aytch Johnson noticed a silver flat disk in the sky in Fairbanks, Alaska.
According to the incident report, the Fort Worth man observed the object flying over Alaska at around 1:06 p.m. on April 18, 1948, at an estimated speed of 250 to 300 miles per hour.
The report also noted that the sighting “may have been the reflection of sun from wings” of aircrafts flying in the area at the time.
Possible UFO sighting during the NASA Gemini 7 space launch
The DoD released the transcript and audio file of NASA’s Gemini 7 mission in 1965 when astronaut Frank Borman reported to NASA mission control in Houston his sighting of an unidentified object, which he referred to as a “bogey.”
While the launch didn’t take place in Texas, the report came back to space control in Houston.
The conversation occurred on Dec. 5, 1965 — 4 hours and 24 minutes into the flight — when Borman notified space control that there was a “bogey” on their left-hand side.
When asked to clarify what they are seeing, Borman said he was seeing “hundreds of little particles” on their left, about three to four miles away.
As NASA Public Affairs clarified, the bogey was an unidentified object, along with the particles.
Pentagon documents report of other possible sightings in Texas
Some documents have connections or reports of possible UFO sightings in Texas, but are missing details to understand the situation.
For example, the DoD received a clipping from the Yoakum Times-Record reporting UFO sightings by Mrs. Anna Banys in 1947, but it is unclear why she was writing to the DoD.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
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