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Geiger will be model for new AD
University will seek candidates with experience, Holbrook says
Friday, January 07, 2005
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Although Ohio State is facing NCAA investigations of its football and men’s basketball programs, Andy Geiger said prospective candidates for athletics director likely will look beyond the immediate problems.

"This is a big, big job in intercollegiate athletics. This is a plum," said Geiger, who announced his retirement Wednesday. "And I think a national search and a patient search process is very, very important." Paul Krebs, who spent 16 years in the Ohio State athletics department. Others with Ohio State ties include Al Bohl, former athletics director at Toledo, Fresno State and Kansas; and Jim Smith, vice president/marketing for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and former president of the Columbus Crew.

Nationally, some names that pop up are athletics directors Jeremy Foley of Florida, Tom Jurich of Louisville and Tom Livengood of Arizona.

Joseph Alutto, dean of the Ohio State Fisher College of Business and head of the search committee, said the door will be open to anyone from inside or outside major-college athletics.

"Normally there are no givens, no assumptions on who is and isn’t a candidate," he said. "People are allowed to declare themselves."

Experience will be a key factor, Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook said.

"(In 1994, Geiger) came in from Brown, from Stanford, from Maryland — excellent credentials — and there was an immediate assumption, ‘He can do the job well,’ " she said. "I don’t want to bring in somebody who has to be tried and tested for a period of years. We undoubtedly will look for people with strong experience. And somebody like Andy Geiger is our goal."

A candidate with experience might mean someone such as Bowling Green athletics director

Krebs, when reached yesterday at the NCAA convention near Dallas, declined to declare himself a candidate.

"I love what I’m doing at Bowling Green. We’ve got a lot of good things going on and a lot of things we still need to accomplish," he said. "Having said that, Ohio State is a job anybody in the country in athletic administration would be interested in."

Archie Griffin, a former associate athletics director at OSU and two-time Heisman Trophy winner, said Wednesday that he had no interest. But would he balk if his alma mater called? Griffin is now president of the Ohio State Alumni Association.

Former Ohio State basketball player Bill Hosket, an analyst for televised games, used to be a division manager for the Millcraft Group, a paper company, so he might be considered should Ohio State look to the private sector.

Within the athletics department, associate directors Tom Hof and Miechelle Willis might be considered. Hof oversees fund-raising and marketing, which are vital to feed an annual budget that exceeds $80 million. Willis, a former coach, manages 12 sports, including men’s and women’s basketball, along with other duties.

The big names will get a look, Alutto said, but it would be folly not to give some up-andcomers a shot.

"I can also see individuals who have worked their way up and they are right at the cusp where they are ready for that next step," Alutto said. "That’s going to be a stretch, but if you can find those people . . . "


Dispatch reporters Rob Oller and Craig Merz contributed to this story .



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Schadenfreude wrote: Friday, January 07, 2005
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Krebs, when reached yesterday at the NCAA convention near Dallas, declined to declare himself a candidate.

"I love what I’m doing at Bowling Green. We’ve got a lot of good things going on and a lot of things we still need to accomplish," he said. "Having said that, Ohio State is a job anybody in the country in athletic administration would be interested in."

Couldn't he have just stopped talking after the first two sentences?

Because he learned from watching Urban Meyer say the same things to him?

I know, that was just the BG fan in me speaking. I think his statement puts him squarely on the fence. Neither committing himself to BG nor admitting that he already has the moving van packed up and is just waiting for the offer from OSU. It is exactly the right thing to say. (Guess that is another reason I want Kerbs to stay around because he knows the right things to say!)

Warthog wrote:I know, that was just the BG fan in me speaking. I think his statement puts him squarely on the fence. Neither committing himself to BG nor admitting that he already has the moving van packed up and is just waiting for the offer from OSU. It is exactly the right thing to say. (Guess that is another reason I want Kerbs to stay around because he knows the right things to say!)

I agree....Krebs could not have said it any better. I really hope he stays but would not be surprised to see him go. I have a strong feeling OSU wants him.

If Paul Krebs wants that job, I hope he gets it. He deserves it. He's worked hard for us, and he's being honest with us now. I would love to keep him as long as it works for him, but if he wants a shot at the big time, I'm rooting for him.

Agree 100% O&B!!

Several of the early canidates have declined or backed out.

That would make me think twice about jumping into that position (at THAT institute).
As we all know they are never happy with anything down there. :rant:

If he wants it, I hope he gets it and does well.

I just hope he will not be jumping into a sink hole with stars in his eyes.


And I hope our Pres is doing some homework on a possible replacement to keep us rolling.

GO FALCONS

The story didn't mention it but Tom Hof also has the BG connection. He's the son of retired BGSU alumni official and all-around glad hander Jim Hof.

Man I hope Krebs stays at BG.....it would be especially sour to see him go to OSU if he ever left.

In case any of you are interested, here is an article on theinsiders.com.

http://ohiostate.scout.com/2/338982.html

If he goes to OSU he better start learning how to cheat, and quick.

Well, Krebs has certainly done a creditable job in moving the women's program forward, and you can applaude him for getting the football program turned around, but when you review the whole intercollegiate sport's scene at Bowling Green, it doesn't look to be exactly on the cutting edge with only five/six men's teams vs 13 for the women. Who made the recommendation for cutting so many of the men's programs?

Dr. Bucko wrote:Well, Krebs has certainly done a creditable job in moving the women's program forward, and you can applaude him for getting the football program turned around, but when you review the whole intercollegiate sport's scene at Bowling Green, it doesn't look to be exactly on the cutting edge with only five/six men's teams vs 13 for the women. Who made the recommendation for cutting so many of the men's programs?

The non-revenue men's sports were cut for purely financial reasons. If you're going to start cutting minor sports to save money it only makes sense to cut the men's programs to move towards title IX compliance. I don't know if the cuts made it enough to be in compliance or not, but I'm sure title IX was a major reason why they cut minor men's sports instead of minor women's.

We still compete in more sports than UT, and I would imagine that other MAC schools compete in fewer than us as well. The nature of our size of athletic programs is that they cannot afford to keep all these minor sports going. They bring nothing in, financially, but they cost a LOT in travel, scholarships, coaching salaries, etc.

I can say with 100% confidence that Krebs took no pleasure in cutting those sports, he did what needed to be done. It is the nature of that job that sometimes you're going to have to make the tough call that you may not want to make. If our football team would bring in the revenue that a team of its caliber should make, perhaps we could still have those sports...of course we weren't nearly as good when those cuts were made either.

I would just add that Bowling Green has historically not been a model of Title IX compliance.

The fact that women have historically outnumbered men in the student body has always set the bar higher for us.

Stir in the fact that we:

-- Play Division I-A football, with its 85 scholarships.
-- Don't have BCS-level revenue rolling in to help fund more womens sports.
-- Persist in playing Division I hockey, with its twentysomething scholarships.

... and Krebs has a real challenge when it comes to Title IX.

To even hint at scaling back football or hockey at Bowling Green would cause a major civil war here, and rightly so.

But that doesn't leave many other options.

I personally wish Division I-A would cut back the maximum number of scholarships. Leaving it at 85 makes Title IX compliance so difficult for non BCS schools.... particularly former normal colleges.