With a photo of him and President Barack Obama gazing down — one of many notable moments that garnish the walls in his 10th floor office at the Fawcett Center on Olentangy River Road — the faint sound of a personal playlist permeating the air and a fresh bottle of water in his hand, Ohio State University Vice President and Director Athletics Gene Smith pulled up a chair.
This isn't the first time he's sat down for a one-on-one interview, but this time, a noticeable glow gleaned across the face of the man with the salt-and-pepper goatee and million dollar smile.
"We're lucky. I'm so proud of our kids," Smith said. "Synchronized swimmers, unbelievable. It's crazy."
Ohio State's synchronized swimmers — those who took home their 29th U.S. Collegiate National Championship in March — weren't the only thing on Smith's mind when he sat down with Eleven Warriors Thursday afternoon.
It's hard to expect that considering the success Buckeye athletics encountered under Smith's watch in the 2014-15 school year. National championship runs in football, wrestling, pistol and synchronized swimming have Smith's fingertips all over them. Spring sports are in full swing, with many doing well as they approach the postseason.
Below is a rundown of the most noteworthy topics Smith opened up about Thursday. Stick with Eleven Warriors for follow-up features and analysis in coming weeks on the man in charge of one of the largest, most powerful athletic departments in the country.
All Those Titles
Since the calendar flipped to 2015, Ohio State's hoisted a quintet of trophies, beginning with the football team winning the inaugural College Football Playoff in January. Wrestling, pistol and synchronized swimming followed suit, putting a cap on terrific fall and winter seasons in Columbus. Even Brutus Buckeye won the national mascot championship.
"It's a proud moment, just like for the coaches. You're ecstatic for the kids and it kind of validates everything we as a team in athletics do to try and create an environment for our coaches and our athletes to be successful," Smith said. "It says that the culture that we create works, where our coaches are able to recruit talent, develop them, and ultimately win championships."
Lest we forget about the women's rowing, baseball, lacrosse, track and field and golf programs, all preparing for Big Ten and national tournaments.
"It's exciting times and here we are in spring and we still have tremendous opportunities ahead of us for some of our spring sports," Smith said. "Tennis, baseball, softball, lacrosse, rowing Big Ten championship is this weekend."
Urban Meyer's Pay Raise, Contract Extension
Ohio State announced a significant bump in compensation ($2.1 million) and contract extension (through 2020) for head football coach Urban Meyer April 13, making him the highest paid coach in the Big Ten and second-highest in the country, behind only Alabama's Nick Saban.
Smith said he didn't alert Meyer of his raise until shortly after the Buckeyes downed Oregon, 42-20, at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, and it was actually the coach who brought up the extension.
"I don't know maybe a week (after informing Meyer of the raise), I was in his office, we were chatting and he said, 'Gene, I really think I'd like to try and do an extension because I want to be here, I want to retire here,'" Smith said. "We started talking about that and then it kind of dawned on me that he had three years left on his contract so we just talked about it and I said, 'Let's go to work. Let's get it done.'"
They got it done, proving again that winning pays, but more importantly for Smith and Ohio State, Meyer — at least for the immediate future — has no plans on going anywhere. Smith also added that it was his idea, not Meyer's, to make him tops in the Big Ten in salary but second to Saban nationally.
"That was mine, because Saban had won four (national titles), he'd won three," Smith said, then raising his arms and shrugging his shoulders. "He wasn't looking for — he didn't have a number, which was interesting. He really didn't have a number like, 'I want to be at this.' It was more about the extension, the longevity."
Selling Alcohol in Ohio Stadium
Smith acknowledged the idea of alcohol being sold in Ohio Stadium is discussed essentially every summer by the higher ups of the university. He is also aware of the potentially outstanding financial returns available. However, he doesn't see it gaining any more traction this summer than it has in the past.
"I think it'll probably pick up this (coming) year. We've had healthier discussions this year because of Maryland, Minnesota did it three years ago, Texas. We haven't had that discussion to that level of detail," Smith said. "We know that if we did it we'd probably net seven figures, you know that based upon our attendance."
Ohio State led the nation in home attendance this past football season without selling alcohol at games, but the door isn't closed on it happening.
"I would anticipate we would talk to Maryland and see what they go through this year and probably next year we would probably get into it a little more," Smith said.
Logan Stieber, Four-Time National Champ
Perhaps the national championship Smith got most excited to discuss was the team title wrestling head coach Tom Ryan and his team clinched March 21.
"That's the one I probably would highlight. Ninety-four years in our existence of wrestling and we had not won a conference or a national championship," Smith said. "We shared the conference championship but then winning the national championship, when you think about Tom and his staff did a great job with a pretty special athlete, with Logan."
Stieber is about as special as they come, becoming just the fourth collegiate wrestler ever to take home the NCAA crown four straight years. Ryan's motto was how there's been more men who've walked on the moon (12) than individuals with four wrestling national titles.
"One of four people (to win four), I mean that's pretty cool. And then to have a chance to ultimately position himself for the Olympics and just a special thing," Smith said. "He's inspiring for others, so I think that helped our wrestling program possibly get on the track. Wrestling is huge in Ohio and we should be one of the premier programs if not the premier program in wrestling in this country considering where we are."
Freshman Ineligibility
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany made waves in February when he proposed a "Year of Readiness" for the conference's member institutions in both men's basketball and football. Delany's hope was to ignite a conversation for ways to boost graduation rates and academic advancement for student-athletes.
Smith said the topic is not on the agenda for next week's Big Ten meetings, but it'll likely be brought up. He isn't sure if the concept will be fully adopted any time soon, but agrees with Delany that a discussion is needed about academics.
"The graduation rate for men's basketball is poor. Graduation rate for some other sports are poor. So how do we solve that problem?" Smith said. "And (Delany's) view is the old freshman ineligibility issue. I think we'll talk about that next week and continue to talk about it this year."
Holding out talented freshmen, though, isn't the way to fix those issues, Smith said.
"I'm not in support of freshman ineligibility for the student-athlete who's ready," Smith said. "You come in here, you graduated with a 29 ACT and a 3.7 GPA, what are we talking about? Why we doing that?"
