Buckeyes' AD job features 'little bit of everything'

FINDLAY — The Ohio State University Athletic Director Ross Bjork gave about a 30-minute speech at Findlay Rotary Club's weekly meeting Wednesday at the Findlay Country Club, then took about 10 minutes of questions.But, in fact, the Buckeyes' new AD ("I've been on the job 278 days. Yes, I'm counting. Yes, that's weird") asked more questions than he received.At one point, he asked the crowd if anyone knew what an athletic director did."I think my boys think that all I do is watch games and give speeches," said the married father of two. "What am I doing today? I'm giving a speech."But as Bjork tells it, the job at Ohio State entails a little bit of everything.It includes driving the culture of OSU athletics, hiring the right people and using resources the right way.And, every once in a while, handling the unexpected.Like on January 20 at the College Football National Championship Game in Georgia against Notre Dame.There was the iconic moment, near the end of the game when a Buckeye victory was assured, that Ohio State coach Ryan Day took off his headset and — in a moment of exhilaration — threw the headset into the air."Whatever happened to that headset?" Bjork asked the crowd Wednesday. "Does anybody know?"As it turned out, Bjork was standing on the sideline, watching Day as the coach separated himself from his equipment. The headset flew high in the air, eventually landing on the railing in front of one of the field suites at Mercedes Benz Stadium."I just happened to look down, and I'm watching Coach Day, and I'm like, 'Holy crap,'" Bjork said.Fans in the field suite just looked at the headset that had landed in front of them, momentarily unsure if one of them could grab it and take it as a souvenir.Bjork never gave them the chance."This headset lands right on this railing, and the people in this suite are looking at it, like, 'What do we do? Do we grab this?'"I went over there and was like, 'I'm taking this. That's mine,'" he said. "So every now and then, you've got to jump in and be an equipment manager."It was just one of those things, it was like in slow motion," Bjork said. "I'm like 'We can't let that get away. That could be valuable.'"Also valuable was the season of perseverance from the Ohio State football team, which included Findlay graduates Luke Montgomery and Nate Riegle."I'm really impressed with the culture of our football program in particular," Bjork said. "Coach Day, the way he galvanized that team after a tough day (a loss to archrival Michigan), the last day of November."How this team did it, I think, will be the legacy. Holding up the trophy, that's going to be a magical memory, but how it happened, I think, is going to be just as powerful."Bjork — who has family members who have lived and worked in the Findlay area (his mother worked at Marathon Oil) — also brought up the Buckeyes men's basketball coach, Jake Diebler.Diebler, who graduated from Upper Sandusky High, just completed his first full season as head coach."Jake's gonna flip it around. There's no doubt about it; he's gonna flip it around," Bjork said. "He knows this state, he's a Buckeye, born and bred."The athletic director also discussed issues like the transfer portal, Name, Image and Likeness, and the importance of academics in the face of all of it."Athletics is not the most important thing that happens on our campus, period," Bjork said. "The athletic director is saying, publicly, that we are not the most important thing. We are literally saving lives 500 feet from Ohio Stadium in the Western Medical Center. We're literally training the next generation of leaders in our academic buildings. We're doing groundbreaking research, over $1.5 billion in research. That's top 10 in the country."At the same time, Bjork was quick not to downplay athletics and their impact."Those things are way more important, but — there's a big 'but' — we're the most visible," he said. "In many essences, we're the marketing vehicle, in some ways, in the entire state."And he said the players who compete in sports at OSU show that, on and off the playing field."Our student athletes perform at a high level," he said. "Eleven hundred athletes, we have a 3.35 grade point average, cumulative."But college sports are big business, and over the last five years, they've become relatively chaotic.To illustrate this point, Bjork showed a picture of a football game in New Hampshire from the mid-1960s.The black and white photo showed the players, the coaches, the officials and an attentive crowd.It also showed a building — directly behind the field — on fire.Bjork said it was a metaphor for today's college sports. Lots of chaos, lots of uncertainty.But the games go on.And so do the questions, for all colleges."What's the economics between the athlete and the institution? That's the crux of the whole thing," he said. "We're actually pursuing legislation in congress. That may sound scary, but they're the only governing body that can actually create uniform standards, because we have 38 different state laws around NIL.""We're leaning into this," he said. "One, we're Ohio State and that's expected. Two, the athletes deserve clarity, so we're seeking that. Three, it's the right thing to do."Bjork spoke several times about the responsibility Ohio State athletics hold. Not just to the school and alumni, but to all of its supporters.And there are plenty: the meeting Wednesday was packed."When they built Ohio Stadium, they raised money from each county. All 88 counties contributed money to build Ohio Stadium," he said. "So, maybe, that's where that started, where everybody, no matter where you are ... you feel like you're invested, because it's a public trust in the state of Ohio."