Who could replace Gene Smith at Ohio State? Here's a list of candidates
Ohio State is looking to fill its two most prestigious positions.
Without a university president after the resignation of Kristina M. Johnson, the athletic department is now in need of a new athletic director as well. Wednesday morning, Gene Smith announced his plans to retire, effective June 30, 2024, after what will be a 19-year tenure. In all, Smith will have spent 39 years as an athletic director, having also been at Arizona State (2000-2005), Iowa State (1993-2000), and Eastern Michigan (1985-1993)
Smith departs Ohio State with the third-longest tenure in history, trailing only Lynn St. John (1912-47) and his immediate predecessor, Andy Geiger (1994-2005). He also presents Ohio State with a unique situation.
“I really believe with this president change, which will be highly positive whoever they hire, gives her or him the opportunity to hire their leader and make a run and build on what these coaches and staff and student-athletes have already done,” he said.
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In other words, Ohio State won’t hire Smith’s replacement until Johnson’s replacement is already in place. Smith said Ohio State’s president’s cabinet meets every Tuesday and is working with the Board of Trustees to manage the university in the absence of a president. When a new president is hired, Smith said he hopes to meet with them to provide some recommendations on characteristics he feels they should consider in an athletic director.
“Then, from there it’s a matter of timing and how they want to do it, if they want to appoint a search committee, hire a search firm, I just don’t know,” Smith said. “I’ll defer to whatever they want to do. They’re going to hire someone skilled and with experience, someone hopefully with a high IQ an EQ, someone that understands the value of people. Someone that holds true to their values of integrity and respect for others, and excellence in every single thing you do.
“But they’re going to have to be patient. In this ever-changing world we live in, you’ve got to be able to hit pause and don’t overreact. Just be patient, and be curious and inquisitive and ask a lot of questions. Then at some point, you have to be authoritative and lead, but you just can’t overreact in this space. That person, whoever it is, is going to have to embrace what we’ve done.”
With the caveat that a new president could arrive with names already in mind, here’s a list of potential candidates for the job. All names are arranged alphabetically.
Bryan B. Blair, University of Toledo
In Oct. 17, 2022, Blair was named a rising star college sports administrator by On3.com, which cited his age at the time of his hire at Toledo (37) as a key emphasis point. The Rockets made Blair the youngest athletic director among FBS schools when he was hired in May of 2022. He came to Toledo after five years as the deputy athletic director and chief operating officer at Washington State, where he was also in charge of managing the school’s Nike contract. Ohio State is a Nike school.
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Blair played four seasons at Wofford College, where he was a nose tackle on the football team, and has also worked at Rice, South Carolina and in the NCAA offices as an intern. He is the first Black athletic director in Toledo history.
Pat Chun, Washington State
Like Blair and Smith, who is the first Black athletic director in Ohio State history, Chun has broken a barrier in his five years as Washington State’s athletic director. Hired in February of 2018, Chun is the first Asian-American athletics director to lead a Power Five school.
A longtime administrator at Ohio State, Chun earned his undergraduate degree from the university and enjoyed a 15-year tenure that began with a sports information internship within the athletic department before rising through the ranks to ultimately become executive associate athletics director. In that position from 2009-12, Chun “provided leadership and oversight for all facets of the external relations division,” according to his official biography on Washington State’s website.
Chun left Ohio State in 2012 to get out of his comfort zone, he told Washington State’s magazine, and was named Florida Atlantic’s athletic director in 2012, where he remained until moving to Washington State. Chun was named the 2019 Under Armour athletic director of the year.
Jocelyn Gates, TurnkeyZRG
Gates is the vice president of college and coaching practice for TurnkeyZRG, an executive search firm that fills positions in sports, entertainment, media and music. She left her job as senior associate athletic director at Ohio State in 2022 because her family relocated when husband, men’s college basketball coach Dennis Gates, departed Cleveland State for Missouri.
Gates was hired by Ohio State to replace Diana Sabau, who in 2021 was named Big Ten deputy commissioner and chief sports operator. She joined the Buckeyes after four years as a senior associate AD and senior woman administrator at Boston College, where she was named the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS Nike administrator of the year. Gates was also senior associate director of athletics during a University of South Florida tenure that lasted from 2013-17 and was assistant director for athletic development during a stint at Duke from 2009-13.
Like Blair, she was also included on On3’s list of rising star college sports administrators. While at Ohio State, she oversaw the football program.
Carey Hoyt, Ohio State
Hoyt is Ohio State’s football administrator, a role previously held by the likes of fellow potential candidates Martin Jarmond and Diana Sabau. Hoyt oversees the Eugene D. Smith Leadership Institute, is the sport administrator for women’s basketball, wrestling and the Spirit Program and leads the name, image and likeness program for all Ohio State student-athletes.
Hoyt joined athletics administration in 2016 after having previously coached the Ohio State women’s gymnastics team for 13 years. She graduated from Penn State with two degrees in 1998 before earning a master’s degree in sport coaching from Ohio State in 2019.
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Martin Jarmond, UCLA
Jarmond has a prestigious job at a high-profile program, but the 43-year-old has ties to Ohio State amid a career that has already lasted for more than 20 years. He got his start as an assistant athletic director for development at Michigan State in 2003, where he worked for seven years before joining the Buckeyes in 2009. He began as associate athletic director for development before moving up to deputy director of athletics and was the lead administrator for football and men’s basketball.
Jarmond left Ohio State to become Boston College’s athletic director in 2017. At 37 years old, he became the youngest athletic director of any Power Five school as well as the first Black athletic director in school history, and he would remain there before being hired to the same position at UCLA in 2020. In the process, Jarmond also became the first Black athletic director at his new school.
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Considered one of Smith’s protegees, Jarmond helped UCLA apply for and earn acceptance into the Big Ten, a move that will take place in 2024.
“Gene’s impact on college athletics is immeasurable,” Jarmond said when contacted by the Dispatch. “He’s had as impressive a run as an athletic director can hope for, and there’s a sadness in this news – the end of an incredible era. Over the years, he has rightfully become one of the most respect leaders in college athletics. For me, it’s his values that stand out, his time that I’m most grateful for. I’ve learned just as much from him about fatherhood and empathy as I have about leadership.
“His authenticity, his compassion … he’s truly one of one. His loss will be felt across the industry, but his retirement is well deserved. Fortunately, we get one more year to learn from and celebrate him.”
Heather Lyke, University of Pittsburgh
In a career that has spanned three decades, Lyke boasts more than 10 years of experience as an athletic director. Now entering her seventh year at Pitt, she joined the Panthers after working as vice president and director of athletics at Eastern Michigan University from 2013-17. She has also worked at the University of Cincinnati prior to what would be a 15-year period at Ohio State.
While with the Buckeyes, Lyke “directly oversaw 10 of Ohio State’s 36 athletic programs and had oversight of all facets of the athletic councils involving budget, revenue generation, facilities and OSU's golf course operations,” according to her official biography. She is responsible for creating the “Bucks Go Pro” student-athlete internship program. In her final year at Ohio State, she served as senior associate athletic director in 2013 before moving to Eastern Michigan.
Lyke is a Canton native who played softball at the University of Michigan.
Bernard Muir, Stanford
At his press conference announcing his pending retirement, Smith spoke with pride about keeping Ohio State’s 36 sports active despite the financial challenges of COVID-19 and cited the school’s third-place finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings as a point of emphasis for the university.
Stanford won the annual competition for a 26th time. In Muir’s 11 seasons, the Cardinal has won the trophy eight times. Stanford won 2022-23 national titles in men's gymnastics, women's rowing and women's water polo and also earned five top-3 finishes. In addition, Stanford is one of the four Pac-12 schools that has not yet departed for another conference and faces an uncertain future.
Muir earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown in 1990 and a Master’s in sports administration from Ohio in 1992. He began his professional career as assistant director of the Division I men’s basketball national championship from 1992-98 and then director of operations from 1998-2000 before stops at Delaware, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Butler and Auburn. He was athletics director at Georgetown from 2005-09 and Delaware from 2009-12 before taking the job at Stanford in 2012.
Diana Sabau, Utah State
The timing wouldn’t be great for Sabau, who was hired as Utah State’s athletic director two days before Smith announced his retirement. She joins the Aggies after having most recently served as the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner and chief sports officer, where she oversaw the administration of all 28 sports.
Before that, Sabau was senior deputy athletic director at Ohio State. While with the Buckeyes, Sabau was the sport administrator for football, women’s ice hockey, and the co-ed rifle and pistol programs. She hired Nadine Muzerall, who led the women’s hockey team to its first-ever national championship, and helped financially steer the athletic department through the COVID-19 pandemic before joining the Big Ten in 2021.
TJ Shelton, Case Western Reserve
Now in his second year as the athletic director at Case Western Reserve, Shelton was previously at Ohio State, where he was hired in 2007. There, as an associate athletic director, he served as the lead administrator for several teams. He also managed athletic risk and compliance efforts, negotiated athletic equipment and apparel agreements and participated in fundraising efforts.
Before joining Ohio State, Shelton was assistant athletic director at Washington University in St. Louis for 15 years.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Here's a list of candidates to replace Ohio State AD Gene Smith
