The Internet Reacts to Gordon Gee's Retirement

By Jason Priestas on June 5, 2013 at 5:42 am
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Thank you, Gordon Gee

It didn't take long for news of E. Gordon Gee's retirement to set the internet on fire. Almost immediately, pundits, fans, graduates, former and current Buckeyes, and many others voiced their opinion on the matter – most positive, with a few not so much.

E. Gordon Gee Steps Down

Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples provided perhaps the most reasoned commentary pointing out that, although a pretty lousy comedian, Gee was a fantastic president:

Officially, Gee will resign on July 1. Officially, he didn't get the ax. But whether he was forced out or whether he simply decided he couldn't deal with the double-secret probation and babysitters monitoring his every speaking engagement proposed by the Board of Trustees in its "remediation plan," Gee's stand-up routine cost him his job. That's a shame.

He was a lousy comedian. That didn't make him a lousy university president.

Adam Kramer of Bleacher Report sees a huge list of achievements, with an avoidable asterisk:

He was an exceptional university president—one the Ohio State faithful have appreciated and will continue to appreciate long after he leaves. His legacy, however, won't just reflect his incredible work.

Yahoo's Pat Forde, in his role as unpaid spokesman for the University of Louisville takes a nice little dance on Gee's grave:

But someone clearly tipped off the Associated Press to those December comments, which were acquired through a public-records request. Someone at Ohio State must have wanted to see those comments made public, and to see Gee further unmasked as the laughingstock leader he was becoming.

And now here is the endgame. Gee's reign of error is over.

And then there's Matt Hayes of the Sporting News. He's quick to tell anyone that will listen that he married an Ohio State grad, but that doesn't mean he has to like Buckeyes. They're part of the "most blindly loyal, recklessly protective culture of any college campus in America," after all:

Gordon Gee resigned Tuesday as president of Ohio State University. Sort of like Jim Tressel’s resignation two years ago. Or Terrelle Pryor’s decision two years ago to leave early for the NFL Draft.

All three men left Ohio State when it became beyond the pale to defend them anymore. And make no mistake: The legion of Ohio Staters—a vocal, vicious and vacuous fan base—would have defended all three and kept all three had it not been for that pesky thing we like to call the truth.

Which... well, go fuck yourself, Matt Hayes.

But on to Twitter. With hashtags like #BuckeyeForLife and #HowFirmThyFriendship carrying the day, "Gee" was trending in Columbus within minutes of the announcement. Gee started the #HowFirmThyFriendship party with a tweet of his own.

There was no shortage of support for Dr. Gee on Twitter, with many players, past and present, showing their support.

It wasn't all sunshine, however.

Finally, some try to add levity to the situation, and we thank them for it.


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