Ross Bjork officially takes over as Buckeyes athletic director
COLUMBUS — A new era of Ohio State Athletics is officially here.
After 19 years as the Buckeyes athletic director, Gene Smith officially entered retirement on Monday morning, and Ross Bjork is officially the new Buckeyes athletic director.
Bjork was hired on Jan. 16 by Ohio State, leaving his post as the athletic director at Texas A&M for the same job in Columbus.
As he began his career as the Buckeyes athletic director Monday morning, he released a statement to social media.
Here’s what Bjork said:
“As I get started on July 1, the only promises I will make will be based on three things: 1) I will work at my maximum effort every single day for you and our student-athletes. 2) I will carry myself with a positive attitude and humble confidence about who we are, what we stand for, and how we do it. 3) I will embrace and cherish our role in supporting our student-athletes while being a great steward of the treasured assets within Buckeye Athletics and Business Advancement.”
Bjork was the athletic director at Texas A&M since 2019, was at Ole Miss from 2012-2019, where he oversaw football success — and plenty of NCAA involvement because of recruiting violations — from Hugh Freeze. Bjork also promoted offensive line coach Matt Luke to head coach before Luke was fired two years later.
Bjork oversaw the contract extension for now-former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher before Bjork and his athletic department paid a historic $76 million buyout for Fisher after disappointing seasons in College Station. Bjork then made the hire of former Aggies defensive coordinator and Duke coach Mike Elko as the next Texas A&M head coach.
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The 51-year-old Bjork has also helped Texas A&M through a great transitionary period of college football in the SEC, as the conference welcomed Texas and Oklahoma on Monday. Before his time at Texas A&M and Ole Miss, Bjork was the athletic director at Western Kentucky and had posts in the athletic departments at UCLA, Miami (Florida) and Missouri.
Bjork has massive shoes to fill.
Gene Smith led the Ohio State athletic department for 19 years. He just completed the third-longest tenure among the school’s eight athletic directors. Along the way, Ohio State Athletics has finished No. 1 in the Big Ten in the Learfield Director’s Cup standing eight times. What’s more, Ohio State teams have won 117 Big Ten titles, and a whopping 35 national titles, during that span. Buckeyes athletes have achieved continued academic success under Smith, including in 2023-24 when all 36 varsity teams at Ohio State posted at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average.
Smith and his development team raised more than $930 million since the beginning of his run as AD. Smith’s made a difference, both at Ohio State and nationally, as a premier voice in athletics administration.
Now a new era of Ohio State athletics is here. Ros Bjork is officially the Buckeyes athletic director.
