Gene Smith gets $18,000+ bonus

[victor2111]

for OSU wrestler Stieber winning a NC on his own. Ohio State didn't win the NC, but Logan won the NC of his weight class.

And now Gene Smith will get $18,000+ because of that.


In fact, for every INDIVIDUAL National Championship by an Ohio State athlete, Gene Smith gets this bonus.

[Deleted]

Really?

Smith should plan on getting another bonus next year for Stieber.

[mikeytbuckeyes]

Sadly that is only 1 weeks pay for him.
Hopefully Tom Ryan also got some sort of bonus since he actually did something to help Logan win his 3rd title.

[mikeytbuckeyes]

www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2014/03/ohio_state_lining_up_for_first.html

wonder how much he gets for a team national title. He may be in line to collect on that next year too.

[Deleted]

Dang, Smith must know where all the bodies are buried.

[gobucksgo]

Here is the thing with the bonus, Gene Smith is the Head of the LARGEST Athletic department on the planet. He is responsible for making sure that every sport tOSU offers is funded to the best of his ability, that his staff is compliant with the insane amount of arcane rules under NCAA Guidelines and laws, and he has to recruit, secure, and maintain coaching staffs for a whole lot of sports.

tOSU's athletic department is one of like 3 in the country that is actually self sustaining for a money standpoint. Most others are supplemented financially from boosters and alumni and the greater community around the school. I read somewhere that it would be on the Forbes 500 list if it was a business.

Gene Smith is the head man there. Huge responsibility and lots of drama, sleepless nights and work. His contract is structured as such that he is incentivized as his coaches and teams and individual athletes perform to the level that is EXPECTED by the alumni and public. Not that every one cares about collegiate wrestling, but someone does and tOSU recruits and I suppose provides scholarship help to those that excel in that sport.

So freaking what if Gene Smith is given a small bonus because his has exceeded in his job to push coaches and student athletes to a national title level? In the grand scheme of things, this is bad timing due to the student-athletes complaining about not getting paid. But, in reality for Gene Smith, he most likely donates that amount in extra time, sweat and generosity through philanthropy each year.

The media is making this an issue. No one else. It shouldn't be an issue at all.

In several previous positions I have had, I had performance incentives that were tied to things that were not directly related to my job. Many were department goals, some were company goals, some were based simply on everyone showing up for work. This is no different except on a larger scale monetarily!

[Deleted]

Except that it makes us look really bad. Media is having a field day over this. Since Smith is the AD at one of the largest universities in the country just give him a huge salary and leave it at that. A bonus for an individual title just comes off as really lame.

[gobucksgo]

Mar 26, 2014 17:40:34 GMT -5 @jtrbucks said:

Except that it makes us look really bad. Media is having a field day over this. Since Smith is the AD at one of the largest universities in the country just give him a huge salary and leave it at that. A bonus for an individual title just comes off as really lame.

Yes, it does. However, being a state school, keeping up appearances so as to not look like one is being over paid, is top priority. All the coaches are setup on some kind of incentive program based on many criteria and goals hit.

[WANG]

How about this:

Keep his bonuses for performing well, but DING his pay if teams under perform (see OSU and fball this year).

Problem solved!

[Deleted]

Mar 26, 2014 18:25:17 GMT -5 gobucksgo said:

Mar 26, 2014 17:40:34 GMT -5 @jtrbucks said:

Except that it makes us look really bad. Media is having a field day over this. Since Smith is the AD at one of the largest universities in the country just give him a huge salary and leave it at that. A bonus for an individual title just comes off as really lame.

Yes, it does. However, being a state school, keeping up appearances so as to not look like one is being over paid, is top priority. All the coaches are setup on some kind of incentive program based on many criteria and goals hit.

Yes and those make sense. They are team goals. Outcomes where the coach has direct influence and therefore deserves to get credit. The Athletic Director getting a bonus for an individual's success makes no sense at all to me.

I don't agree with Cowherd very often, but his take of just giving the AD his salary and leave it at that was spot on. I don't think the AD should get bonus incentives at a school the size of OSU. Championships are expected.

[victor2111]

Mar 26, 2014 13:41:18 GMT -5 gobucksgo said:

Here is the thing with the bonus, Gene Smith is the Head of the LARGEST Athletic department on the planet. He is responsible for making sure that every sport tOSU offers is funded to the best of his ability, that his staff is compliant with the insane amount of arcane rules under NCAA Guidelines and laws, and he has to recruit, secure, and maintain coaching staffs for a whole lot of sports.

tOSU's athletic department is one of like 3 in the country that is actually self sustaining for a money standpoint. Most others are supplemented financially from boosters and alumni and the greater community around the school. I read somewhere that it would be on the Forbes 500 list if it was a business.

Gene Smith is the head man there. Huge responsibility and lots of drama, sleepless nights and work. His contract is structured as such that he is incentivized as his coaches and teams and individual athletes perform to the level that is EXPECTED by the alumni and public. Not that every one cares about collegiate wrestling, but someone does and tOSU recruits and I suppose provides scholarship help to those that excel in that sport.

So freaking what if Gene Smith is given a small bonus because his has exceeded in his job to push coaches and student athletes to a national title level? In the grand scheme of things, this is bad timing due to the student-athletes complaining about not getting paid. But, in reality for Gene Smith, he most likely donates that amount in extra time, sweat and generosity through philanthropy each year.

The media is making this an issue. No one else. It shouldn't be an issue at all.

In several previous positions I have had, I had performance incentives that were tied to things that were not directly related to my job. Many were department goals, some were company goals, some were based simply on everyone showing up for work. This is no different except on a larger scale monetarily!

Everything you describe there were team goals, not individual. If OSU wrestling won the NC, I would agree. If OSU hockey made the Frozen Four, okay.

But he is getting a bonus for an athlete doing something by himself. If Braxton wins the heisman, should he get a bonus? If Aaron Craft wins DPOY, should he gets a bonus? Should he get a bonus for Turner nPOY?


No. Those are individual awards. It just doesn't look or sound right.

[Deleted]

Gene Smith got a $10,000 bonus when this board hit its 5-year anniversary. WTF?

[mikeytbuckeyes]

Here's one reason I ultimately don't have a huge issue with this (even though I think it's wrong if the coach isn't getting a bonus for the same thing). More and more college are cutting wrestling citing title IX as the reason (which is crap since that is not the intent of that) despite wrestling having higher numbers of participation at the high school level than at any time in history (nationally). Even though cutting wrestling at Ohio State is a near impossibility, if the AD's pockets get lined when they have even 1 guy find success on the team then that makes it even less likely the AD will place that sport on the chopping block when cuts must be made.
Had Clemson or Oregon or Arizona State done this perhaps wrestling wouldn't have been axed at these universities (Arizona State was reinstated because the wrestlers raised the money to make the wrestling program self sufficient). Clemson had a 2x national champ about 2 years before they cut the program. Arizona State won the team national title 10-15 years prior and had at least one national champ just a few years prior. Had the wrestlers not raised the money the nation wouldn't know the inspirational story of Anthony Robles (the Division I national champ with 1 leg).
So, in a sense I view it as paying tribute to Caesar for protection. Cynical? Yes. However, after seeing wrestling narrowly avoid a death blow at the Olympic level I don't take anything for granted.

[Deleted]

How has he not been fired???

[WANG]

Mar 27, 2014 19:35:20 GMT -5 @cincycanesfan said:

How has he not been fired???

Tressel isn't there to fire him anymore.