Scarlet Sunrise: Midseason coaching search actually helped Ross Bjork's Ohio State transition

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Midseason coaching search actually helped Ross Bjork’s Ohio State transition

Longtime, and outgoing, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith introduced his replacement, Ross Bjork, in mid-January. At the time, Bjork was still finishing his nearly-five-year stay in College Station as Texas A&M’s AD. Bjork spoke to Buckeyes faithful and local media in the Covelli Center before retuning to his old post, tying up loose ends with his Aggies programs and then taking what he called a “sabbatical.”

Bjork had planned to fully start his transition to Ohio State and understudy Smith in early March. In the meantime, he was hitting the reset button ahead of his fourth, and most prestigious, AD stop of his career.

That breather came to a halt when Smith called Bjork and informed him of Chris Holtmann’s midseason firing that ultimately took place on Feb. 14. Smith was moving on from Ohio State’s seventh-year head men’s basketball coach with four years left on his extension and six regular season games remaining.

“I don’t think you’d ever want to have to do this early, your first couple weeks. Again, I’m not even the athletic director by title,” said Bjork, who now serves as Ohio State’s senior advisor for intercollegiate athletics and spearheaded the search for a new head coach.

“But it allowed me actually to get to know the place better and faster, maybe in a more unique way in a unique manner that’s untraditional, unorthodox.”

Bjork first hunkered down in Texas watching a ton of college basketball and gathering a plan for his search, which Smith described as “thorough.” When Bjork got to Columbus in March, he began going to as many Buckeyes games as possible, starting with a March 3 beatdown of Michigan on Senior Day. He also traveled to the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis and watched interim head coach Jake Diebler lead Ohio State to one more win — at the time, the program’s sixth victory in seven games with Diebler piloting the ship — and then almost a monumental upset over eventual tourney champ Illinois.

Smith was at the Big Ten Tournament as well. Bjork and Smith have worked in tandem this month, as Smith remains AD until the end of the June.

“I can observe, I can really be curious, I can ask the right kind of questions without being threatening, if you will,” Bjork said of his overlap with Smith.

He continued: “But then getting to know former players. That’s why we’re here. Getting to know our athletes quickly through this process, getting to know staff that I’ll need in the future — whether it’s the HR people, whether it’s the contract administration piece, whether it’s people in legal counsel on campus — those relationships got accelerated because we had to deploy all those resources. So it’s unorthodox. But I think a good advantage for me as I go into the spring and summer.”

Bjork leaned on the input of former Ohio State men’s basketball players as well as a search firm, plus feedback from Smith over the last month. The answer Bjork came up with was right in front of him: Diebler, who guided the Buckeyes to a 6-2 record and into the NCAA Tournament conversation after Holtmann’s firing.

Now, Bjork has made his first hire before officially taking over as AD. That process has brought Bjork up to speed with the culture at Ohio State, in addition to the resources available to him.

Quick hitters from Jake Diebler head coach introductory press conference

Along with Bjork, Diebler of course spoke during his introductory press conference in the Schottenstein Center Monday. Diebler talked about why he became a coach, the importance of his family and why Ohio State is so “special” to him.

Lettermen Row was on site with full coverage, including quick hitters from both Diebler’s comments and Bjork’s remarks.

You can get that full recap here.

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Five Buckeyes we’re watching during second week of spring camp

It’s mid-March, Ohio State spring break is over and Buckeyes spring ball is back on. Three practices are in order for this week.

Lettermen Row outlined who we’re watching this week, the second of spring practice. That list of players features a pair of first-year quarterbacks who are already competing for early positioning in a room with five scholarship signal callers.

Go here for more on that those two, plus other notable Ohio State players we’re keeping an eye on this week in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

Counting Down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 165 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 256 days

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