Gene Smith is the athletic director (or AD for short) of the Ohio State University (OSU) Buckeyes athletic program. Mr. Smith oversees a diverse variety of men’s and women’s sports for a school that has the unique distinction of being one of only four colleges to win national championships in men’s football, basketball, and baseball.
Gene Smith’s official appointment to the advertised position of Ohio State Athletic Director occurred on March 5, 2005. Coming to his position as director of one of the strongest collegiate athletic programs in the country, Gene gained relevant work experience while serving as athletic director for Eastern Michigan, Iowa State, and Arizona State.
While many casual fans predominantly think of football and basketball when they think of college athletics, the spectrum of college sports is actually quite diverse. In all, Mr. Smith oversees approximately 900 student-athletes spanning a pool of 39 varsity sports (20 women and 19 men). The Buckeyes have won national championships in numerous oft-forgotten sports, including synchronized swimming, gymnastics, and fencing.
Long before shouldering the burden of the highly vetted position of athletic director at Ohio State University, Gene Smith grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, not far from the Columbus, Ohio location of OSU’s main campus. Smith was an athlete in his youth at St. Peter Chanel High School in nearby Bedford, Ohio and went to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where he earned an athletic scholarship as a defensive end on the football team.
Before graduating from Notre Dame in 1977, Gene was on the 1973 national championship football team. Gene earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and stayed with his alma mater as an assistant coach in the football program until 1981.
In 1981, Gene Smith experimented with a brief career outside of college athletics when he took a job in the marketing department of International Business Machines (IBM). After two years in the private sector, Smith realized that his true calling was a lifelong career in college sports.
In 1983, the Ohio native found a position at Eastern Michigan University, where he was able to serve as assistant athletic director. In 1986, Gene became a full-time athletic director at Eastern Michigan. Seven years later, in 1993, Gene became an AD at Iowa State University, where he served diligently until 2000, when he moved across the country to Tempe, Arizona, to accept the position of athletic director for Iowa State University. Arizona State University.