Gordon Gee on the College Coaching Situation...

Terry O'Keefe · Jan 4, 2008

Interesting read.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

Friday, January 4, 2008

Buckeyes' Leader Believes College Presidents Should Help Contain Sports Spending
By PAUL FAIN

Escalating spending on intercollegiate sports has become an arms race, says E. Gordon Gee. His opinion matters, as he now presides over the superpower of college sports, Ohio State University. With 36 varsity teams, the university's annual athletics budget of about $110-million is the nation's largest.

During his stint as Vanderbilt University's chancellor, Mr. Gee drew national attention for folding the athletics department into the office of student affairs (The Chronicle, October 17, 2003).

But such sweeping changes would be more difficult to pull off at Ohio State, with its outsized emphasis on producing top-flight teams. This week the Buckeyes were scheduled to take the field for their second straight appearance in college football's national championship.

In a recent interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Gee talked about his plans for Ohio State and how he hopes to retain his role as a national leader in keeping college sports in bounds.

Q. What can the top-spending university do about the arms race?

A. Our budget at Ohio State is $4-billion, and our athletic budget is $110-million. When one thinks about it as part of the overall budget of the institution, it's fairly insignificant. And it is a self-supporting unit, the same as many other units within the university. We have to make certain that athletic programs are fully integrated into the ... life of the university, that talented football players and talented cellists are given opportunities to excel, but that it is all part of the academic, social-cultural environment of the institution. And what is happening as part of this escalation is that athletic programs are increasingly becoming separated and segregated, both in structure and function, and even values, from the rest of the institution. And it's bringing that back into focus, which I think is important.

Q. How did your experience at Vanderbilt shape your perspective?

A. At Vanderbilt I eliminated the athletic department and eliminated the athletic director, and put it all into an integrated program within the division of student affairs. And what we proved, after much wringing of hands, naturally, was that indeed there is a third way. And that one can be successful with students as athletes, in a very competitive environment.

Q. Can you influence presidents at other universities?

A. The opportunity that we have at Ohio State-and the athletic director and I have talked a lot about this-is to use our athletic program as an example about how one can have great success and meet some of these goals of integration and even nonescalation that I've talked about, and in those relationships with our coaches and with our students. At Vanderbilt [we were] very successful in what we did. But many people say, Well, it was easy to do at Vanderbilt because you're in the Southeastern Conference and you're the small school and the private school and you have these high admissions standards and everything else. At Ohio State, I'm on the other edge. I'm president of the university with the largest, most-powerful athletic program in the country. And so, from that point of view, I have a great bully pulpit, and I intend on using it.

Q. What specific plans do you have for athletics at Ohio State?

A. First of all, we have an environment here in which the coaches and our athletic director are working very hard to make sure that we're having successful programs on and off the field. Our graduation rates and success rates are now consistent with the rest of the institution, which has not always been the case. Secondly, we're looking very carefully to make sure our cost structures are in line, that we're not just simply building to build, or we're not simply paying to pay, but rather that we have a systemic approach to what we're trying to do, and that it is part of the overall planning and strategic positioning of the institution. Third, we're trying to make certain that we have a program that fully reflects, by the way that it operates, its committed relationships to the university.

Q. Will you look at the smaller changes you made at Vanderbilt, such as the elimination of floors for athletes in residence halls?

A. Absolutely. When I talk about integration, that's what I talk about. Anything that we can do to give the athletes a comprehensive collegiate experience I think is important. The minute we bring student-athletes in to simply perform on the field, then we've done them a great disservice. It is about graduation, but it's also about graduation with a relationship to the other aspects of the university.

Q. Do you worry about rocking the boat at a university where sports are so important?

A. I think that people understand that I value and appreciate athletics. And what I tell everyone here is that successful athletic programs do not start with the coaches or the students. It starts with me. I have to be committed to an athletic program that is going to represent the institution winning on the field and off the field. All too many of my colleagues view athletics as a third rail, and therefore do not want to be engaged because they're afraid that when there is a problem with a student, when someone gets out of bounds, or when there is some misbehavior, that it will slop over on them. We've got to become very much engaged in these athletic programs. I have a great athletic director. I'm not going to manage him. But what I am going to do is make certain that he understands that I am his partner and I expect to be fully informed and fully engaged in what is happening.

Q. Should universities put limits on coaches' salaries?

A. What I think we can do is continue to try to put into contractual relationships expectations of performance on and off the field, and also expectations in terms of longevity and loyalty. ... The reason we have these escalating contracts is because coaches can plead sanctimoniously to all of these students that they're going to stay there and be with them forever, and then they leave the next day. And so ways to tamp down that revolving door will be one of the ways to put costs into line.

Q. Can coaches' contracts be improved?

A. I think some are very poorly written. What I think happens is the fact that, gee, we lost our coach, and so we've got to get someone the next day, and so we panic. I think a lot of the escalation is due to panic more than common sense. If we were a little bit more thoughtful about what we did, we would not end up having some of the awkward results that we have.

Q. Would you panic if Ohio State's football coach quit?

A. Let me tell you something-if Coach Tressel steps down, I'm stepping down with him. I think he is the real deal. And in the best sense of the word. He is very loyal to the institution, and the institution is very loyal to him. The problem is this: When you change a major coach, it is done in the broadest light of day. They track your airplane where you're going to go talk with people. Folks leak that they're talking to someone, and then all of a sudden they get a huge bump in their own salary. I mean, it's an interesting dynamic that occurs. And so the answer is that I hope I don't have to deal with that. And if I do, I hope I don't panic.
Click to expand...

BuckeyeT · Jan 4, 2008

Q. Would you panic if Ohio State's football coach quit?

A. Let me tell you something-if Coach Tressel steps down, I'm stepping down with him.
Click to expand...

Smart man....!

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Gordon Gee on the College Coaching Situation...

Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

BuckeyeT Well-Known Member

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Gordon Gee on the College Coaching Situation...

Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

BuckeyeT Well-Known Member

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