Gene Smith isn’t having any second thoughts about retirement.
Speaking with Eleven Warriors last week just 10 days before the final day of his 19-year tenure as Ohio State’s athletic director, Smith felt ready to step away from leading the OSU athletic department and start the next chapter of his life.
Smith isn’t going to step away from college athletics entirely. He was named in April as the chair-elect of the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors and will serve a two-year term in that role, keeping him involved in the beginning of the 12-team College Football Playoff. But he’s also looking forward to spending more time golfing, hiking and hanging out with his grandchildren.
“I'm very comfortable,” Smith said last week during an interview on Real Pod Wednesdays. “My wife is a good planner, fortunately, and we have a good plan. My mentors have shared to me that I just can't go cold turkey. So I'm looking forward to staying in the business a little bit in a certain way. I have to do something, so I'm on the Fiesta Bowl board, which will keep me heavily involved in the industry.”
Smith, who is moving to Arizona, says he doesn’t expect to make frequent trips back to Ohio State for sporting events. He will be at Ohio State’s home football game against Iowa in October, as he will be inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame that weekend, and he plans on making some trips to Ohio State sporting events when the Buckeyes play on the West Coast, such as when Ohio State men’s basketball opens its season against Texas in Las Vegas in November. For the most part, though, Smith plans on watching the Buckeyes play at home.
“There's a Buckeye-owned bar (in Scottsdale, Arizona) called Bottled Blonde, so I'll be at the Bottled Blonde on some occasions, but largely at home,” Smith said of how he’ll watch the Buckeyes in retirement. “I'm looking forward to it and be able to, you know, crack a beer and watch the game and be relaxed.”
Although Smith expects most of his trips back to Columbus to be to play golf with his friends rather than attending Ohio State events, he’ll still be keeping close tabs on the Buckeyes and rooting for them to win. After all, Smith has built strong relationships with many of Ohio State’s athletes and coaches in his role as athletic director, so he’s invested in seeing them succeed.
Smith is particularly excited about watching the Ohio State football team this fall. In his final six months as athletic director, Smith said he went “all in” to try to help the Buckeyes win a championship this year by signing off on more than $11 million in assistant coach salaries and renovations to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
While he’s particularly hoping to see the Buckeyes beat Michigan when they host the Wolverines at Ohio Stadium in November, Smith says he’s planning to watch every game.
“I'm just excited about all of them, but really excited about that one,” Smith said. “What is going to be cool for me is I know all the kids. And I want to see some of the young puppies play early. I'm hopeful that we have games where those backups can get in. That's going to be really cool for me to watch. But certainly that November game is circled.”
“I hope they recognize that I always had the student-athlete at the core of what I was all about.”– Gene Smith on what he hopes his legacy will be
Smith acknowledges that not being at every game will take some getting used to and that he will miss being around the team before, during and after games, however.
“It will be slightly weird not being there to go down to the sidelines if one of the players get injured or to watch them perform, and then be able to have the impromptu meetings that we've had on Sundays or even the Friday meetings pregame,” Smith said. “I always met with (Day) in an informal, casual way on Friday morning. So I will actually miss that Friday morning more than anything. I'll miss being at the games and being there to support my teammates who are running the operations for everything, but also just being there to support. That's something that I'm going to have to wean myself from over time.”
On the field of play, Smith says his favorite moments from his tenure as Ohio State’s athletic director include the football team’s national championship in 2014 and the wrestling team’s national championship in 2015. Across the entire athletic department, Ohio State teams won 35 team national titles, including 12 NCAA championships, and 115 Big Ten championships during Smith’s time in Columbus.
12 NCAA Team National Champions pic.twitter.com/ihLid1lBX8
— Gene Smith (@OSU_AD) March 24, 2024
What Smith hopes his career as an athletic director is most remembered for, though, is how he worked to help athletes set themselves up for success off the field and in their professional careers beyond Ohio State.
“I hope they recognize that I always had the student-athlete at the core of what I was all about,” Smith said when asked what he hopes his legacy will be. “That's what it's all about for me … hopefully people will recognize that that's been my focus. The coaches focus on championships and all those types of things, but helping that student-athlete find her or his next career path is really what it's all about for me. It really is. Getting that sheepskin, developing as a person, I hope people recognize that that's the passion that I brought to the table.”
Day says he will remember Smith’s tenure as Ohio State’s athletic director for the impact he made on both athletes and coaches.
“Two decades, over 1,000 athletes, 36 sports year in and year out, the impact he made on all of those student-athletes,” Day told Big Ten Network earlier this month when asked what Smith meant to Ohio State. “I think the impact he made on staff and coaches, in particular myself, what he did for me and my career, his counsel, the impact he made at Ohio State. Certainly the wins and the losses and championships that he's been a part of speak for themselves, but to me it was more about the impact.
“The impact he had on college athletics across the entire country, certainly here in the Big Ten with his colleagues, working through challenges, he’s been at the forefront of all that. So I think he's had a profound effect across the country, at the conference level, and then down all the way to the student-athletes.”
Ohio State president Ted Carter told Eleven Warriors this week that Smith “will be remembered as arguably the definition of what an athletic director can and should be.”
“To come here and be reunited with Gene and just to have the privilege to work with him for my first six months as we’re now in the last couple days of his tenure has been a gift,” Carter said.
