Tuesday, December 20, 2011

What If Gene Smith Had Done The Right Thing...

…and kept his mouth shut last December?

Strangely enough… it was about a year ago this week that the NCAA handed down its sentence that five players from the OSU football team would sit for the first five games of the 2011 season.

Those players would still be eligible for the Sugar Bowl, but they would sit the first five games of -- let's face it -- a pretty soft football schedule for the Buckeyes. Little did we know the Buckeyes would be so woefully ineffective against a team that turned out to be arguably worse than the Buckeyes were. But, I digress.

Gene Smith felt that wasn't good enough. The punishment was too harsh, he said. We're going to appeal this.

It has long been my belief that this single, bloated-ego moment/action by Smith was the catalyst for the snowball effect that has befallen the Ohio State Buckeyes football team in the 52 weeks since.

That snowball has now culminated in a one-year ban for a football team that desperately needed to turn the corner, and try and put this nightmare behind it.

Yes, Jim Tressel lost control of his team, and compromised his principles in order to be a winner... and of course, the initial blame falls on the five players who traded autographs and swag for cash and tattoos.

Sure, they can claim financial hardship and bemoan their living expenses all they want. They're on scholarship and go to school for free, and get money to help cover those expenses. Sure, it doesn't cover everything. Well, how many other students at OSU would kill to have that much of life covered? How many of them would kill to not have tens of thousands of dollars in debt when they graduate?

Yep... keep crying, scholarship guys. Nice ink.

However, the blame for the current state of OSU football lies with one person, and one person alone.

That person is Gene Smith.

Smith's ego and his shameless blustering about appealing this "awful" suspension set this whole year into motion.

What happened? People started digging. Local media started digging. ESPN started digging. And it wouldn't stop. More skeletons came out of the closet. It turned out Jim Tressel knew about the Tattoo Five and didn't report it. Smith fired Tressel (forced his resignation... call it what you like). Then, while the school was still under investigation players took money to make an appearance at a charity event. This not only showed a lack of character (considering the whole swag-for-tattoos scandal), but also a terrible lack of judgment on the part of those players.

More importantly, it also exposed a serious lack of institutional control by Gene Smith. The guy couldn't even make sure that players were playing by the rules, before the investigation was even over. Yet, Gene Smith still kept his job. Oh sure, he got a stern letter from President E. Gordon Gee.

Ooooooooooh… scary.

And then, as if all that weren't enough… after saying that no decision on a head coach would be made until after the season was over, they started talking with and negotiating with Urban Meyer. Problem was… not only could Smith not properly enforce the rules among players, he couldn't even seal the apparent leaks in his own athletics department. Result... oh, great... a distraction for the football team trying to focus on the most important game of the season.

Oh sure, Smith made sure that coach Fickell was going to be "taken care of" after Meyer's hiring.

Wow, Gene… that's big of you.

As if all that weren't enough, Smith did one final thumb of the nose to the NCAA, saying that OSU would accept a bowl bid if invited. Here's a hint, Gene... the University of Miami -- which, given, is embroiled in a much worse situation than Ohio State was -- said that its football team would not participate in a bowl game this year.

Any idiot could see that a school facing severe punishment for players' accepting gifts, cash and prostitutes was clearly sucking up to the NCAA to try and mitigate the damage that is clearly coming.

Think about this for a second. When a scandal-plagued, classless program like the University of Miami's football team is taking the high road and declining bowl participation…? It might be time to pause, and take a look in the mirror, Mr. Smith.

But oh, no… Gene Smith would not be denied. The Buckeyes would go to a bowl game if invited.

So either the Buckeyes or the Florida Gators will finish 6-7 this year.

At least the Gators will have something to look forward to next year. Hey, if they go 12-0, they'll probably wind up in the National Title Game. The Buckeyes could go 12-0 -- assuming the rest of the Big Ten doesn't wake them up to reality after they steamroll four cupcake teams in non-conference play -- and where will they go?

Absolutely nowhere... not even the Big Ten title game.

So, Gene Smith's instant gratification remedy to hosing Luke Fickell and letting him coach one more game... likely cost the Buckeyes a chance to start fresh with head coach Urban Meyer next season.

I defy anyone to present one good reason why Gene Smith should still have his job at The Ohio State University.

When the NCAA handed down a five-game suspension for the Tattoo Five, Gene Smith had an opportunity to do the right thing and keep his mouth shut and accept it... or at least offer to hold those players out of the Sugar Bowl to see if that would appease the NCAA. He chose not to do so.

The result: OSU compromised the program's integrity and let those players play in the game, and the Buckeyes won the Sugar Bowl. Yay-woo! The Buckeyes beat an SEC team for the first time in forever...

...and then wound up having it not count because OSU vacated the win, and all the others from last season.

Again, Gene Smith had an opportunity to do the right thing by actually establishing the so-called "model of compliance" among OSU's football players. He neglected to do so.

The result: More suspensions... and more NCAA scrutiny that the program didn't need.

Once again, Gene Smith had an opportunity to do the right thing and wait until the season was over to call and negotiate with head-coaching candidates... and, for just one more week, resist the calls from Buckeye Nation's Lunatic Fringe to can Fickell. He chose not to do so.

The result: A team that struggled to win even without additional distractions got just the additional distraction it needed to lose its third straight game to end the season.

Gene Smith has proven multiple times in the past year that he is not capable of doing the right thing for this program. And the Buckeyes have been burned by this fact every single time.

So, it's too much to expect Gene Smith to do the right thing now and resign.

So maybe it is time for President Gee to show Smith HOW to do the right thing...

...and show Smith the door.

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