Ross Bjork explains why he's well equipped to lead Ohio State in new era of college athletics

Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork is ready to lead the Buckeyes in the new era of college athletics based on past experience.

Bjork steps into his first year as Ohio State’s AD and in the world of NIL and the transfer portal, ADs have to be ready. Speaking with Tim May of Lettermen Row, Bjork mentioned his experience in his youth at the AD level and getting different perspectives as a way to usher in the era.

“I mean, there’s a lot to do,” Bjork said to Lettermen Row. “In this context, you know, I do think I have a great perspective. I played Division II football. We had nothing right? And then I saw the evolution in the late 90s, around the arms race in college athletics, where you couldn’t focus on those fundamentals, and then I was an athletic director at 37 years old at Western Kentucky. And so I was the youngest FBS AD at the time. 

“And then I got to Ole Miss, and I was the youngest Power Five AD when we had five conferences. Now we only have four. And so I think I have a good perspective.” 

Seeing what came before and what’s coming now is a good way to look at it, if you’re Bjork.

“I saw it at a different era, I saw it when it was growing, evolving, I saw it as an AD,” Bjork said. “I remember when we put in cost of attendance, and everybody thought, ‘Oh, my God, this is going to bankrupt the enterprise.’ We’re still here. Then I think I have enough energy to carry into this new era as things are changing, and then be innovative. And I think my experience at (Texas) A&M, we were innovative, whether people like that or not that, whether whether things were accurate or not, it doesn’t matter. We were innovative. We were able to push.”

Seeing what Bjork did at A&M, Ohio State wanted that immediately and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I think that’s what Ted Carter was looking for in a new athletic director,” Bjork said. “‘Okay, how do we honor tradition, but not think traditionally?’ And I think I bring some perspective like that. Hopefully, I still have, you know, the wherewithal, the energy, the passion, which I do. I love what we do. And that we get to, you know, execute, all that. And so, I think, just a combination of a lot of different things.”