Gene Smith explains proposal for college football to move away from NCAA

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith recently spoke about the potential for a blockbuster move by FBS football teams to break ties with the NCAA and operate under the College Football Playoff. While not the first time the idea has come to light, it does mark one of the first times a high-ranking official spoke on the potential move.

In an interview with The Athletic, Gene Smith explained previous comments on the potential for FBS college football to break away from the NCAA and create its own governing bodies.

“At the end of the day, what you call it doesn’t matter to me,” Smith said. “But at the end of the day, if you have a CFP, and you’ve got the 130 underneath that umbrella, you have a governance structure, somebody has to lead it. And I think it’s more than just a football person. You need a governance person, right? Because you’ve got legislation, rules and regulations. You’ve got television. Whatever you call it, we need that one person that leads it, a board, that will be a part of that. In my view, ex-athletic internal people and then some external people, a private sector of people, and then you develop a little structure underneath that.

“So that’s the way I see it.”

Although Smith paints a picture of the benefits, the negative consequences of a move like this could include repercussions which extend beyond football and into baseball, basketball, softball and other sports which remain under NCAA control.

Gene Smith on NCAA breakaway

The whole discussion started when Gene Smith told ESPN in an interview that he was “just throwing ideas out there.” And it has now snowballed into a discussion.

“We [can] create our own rules, create our own governance structure, have our own enforcement, we have our own requirements, whatever that might be,” Smith said. “That might be in the medical space, for example, if a student-athlete is injured and hurt in his or her senior year. You take care of them when they’re done until they’re healed. And we have the funding in place to do that. You don’t touch anything else with the NCAA. You keep the academic requirements in place. The reality is, those schools who offer 85 scholarships in football have made a different commitment and that needs to be addressed.”

Smith stated that he has shared the idea with his peers and opinions are mixed on the change. However, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips reportedly told coaches that no such move is imminent.