Dr Gee announces plan to retire July 1st. A wise decision in my book! He has been a highly motivated president and fund raiser as well. Worked well with the state legislature and academic improvements. However the recent bad PR left the university little choice. Resign or be terminated. No one individual is more important than the institution itself.
Sorry you have to go through this, Don. Everyone here has had their school go through tough situations of one kind or another. It's not fun, but there always are brighter days ahead.
i'll bet he won't stay retired long. He may not be a Univ President again but if he's good at fund raising, there's always room some place for those guys.
I hold no ill will or opinion regarding Ohio State the university or their fans over this. The dude is a dick. I thought he was a dick at Vandy. Hell, I thought he was a dick everywhere he went. He made money, but his personality cost him in the end.
Perhaps...in this day of political correctness and media coverage of only the bad things, foot in the mouth disease is a bad thing to suffer from. FWIW, here is a facebook post from a good friend and classmate of mine today...I'm sure the reaction here will be "yeah, right." Everyone talks about him like he's some kind of huckster fundraiser, but he has indeed worked tirelessly to increase the academic stature of Ohio State.
Stu, I'm in the "what's the big deal?" crowd. Are we all so thin-skinned these days that we can't take a few jabs from a competitor? Gads... this stuff wouldn't have even been news 25 years ago. :roll:
25???? It wasn't news 15-20 years ago when Tennessee was building a higher wall to keep all the Spurrier catapult fodder from landing in Tennessee territory. :shock: 8)
I think Gee crossed the line because his jabs were as much faith-based as having anything to do with football. I heard Rick Pitino interviewed and he really went off on Gee for that.
For a guy who wears a bow tie, it was pretty tame and he was sort of lead down the path by reporters. :?
It sounds a lot to me like a guy who was joking about in private and it went public. But these days you have to be very careful what you say and do if you are in a highly public position. I don't doubt the guy who wrote the post was right, but Gee would have continued to be a lightning rod if he had stayed on.
He could have said 'SEC football sucks' and no one really would have cared. He could say the SEC leads the league in NCAA violations (I don't believe they do btw), and no one would have cared... He said that the SEC couldn't read and do math. He could have said Notre Dame sucks balls and 70% of college football would have applauded him.. but he tore down Catholics. There's a difference and the dude paid for it.. still a dick though
All being said, he will still remain in the employee of the university as a fund raiser. He will continue to attract millions in donations.
Yeah, his words really reflect on his character and that's enough, at least that is the thoughts of this SECer. :wink:
kp, We know how thicked skin you SECers are down there. You have withstood the NCAA people for years! :lol:
KP, I don't blame you or our Catholic friends for getting your dander up a bit. But he didn't just set out to disrespect the SEC. The whole comment was a rebuttal to "What do you say to our SEC friends who say that the Big Ten can't count." It's like personal fouls...the last guy to take a swing gets the penalty. He has lots of friends and connections to the SEC and I'm sure he regrets the comeback. And left unmentioned in all of his above obituary is what a great supporter of the students he was in all ways.