Scarlet Sunrise: Ross Bjork aiming to 'get after' NIL, revenue generation as Ohio State AD

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Ross Bjork aiming to ‘get after’ NIL, revenue generation as Ohio State AD

Fundraising comes easy to Ross Bjork. The current Texas A&M Athletic Director and incoming Ohio State AD believes it boils down to one word: “people.”

“If you’re organized, if you’re accessible, if you lay out a vision, typically you don’t have to ask,” Bjork said Wednesday during his introductory press conference in the Covelli Center. “The donor typically says, ‘Wow, I really like that, what do you need?'”

Bjork continued: “It’s all about the relationship. And then our job is to activate their passion.”

Although Bjork has been criticized for his handling of Hugh Freeze’s recruiting violations at Ole Miss and, more recently, the Jimbo Fisher contract extension — and then buyout — he was responsible for at Texas A&M, his fundraising chops and NIL success can’t be ignored.

Texas A&M Athletics generated the seventh-most revenue nationwide of any NCAA Division I public school’s athletic department during the 2022 fiscal year, according to USA TODAY. The Aggies have emerged as a power in the early years of NIL, which played a significant role in their football program reeling in the top overall 2022 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking.

Bjork is hoping to replicate that success at Ohio State, which has leaned on recent NIL improvements to help retain 11 draft-eligible impact players for the football team’s 2024 season.

“As I look out over the landscape, I mean just in the Big Ten today, we’re going to bring in four teams from the West Coast — 36 teams, we’re going to be traveling four time zones, and there’s going to be extra cost to that travel,” new Ohio State president Ted Carter said Wednesday.

“And if we do go to any kind of revenue sharing, the amount of revenue that we bring in today is going to be a little more difficult. So managing the budget, managing the future of fundraising and how we’re going to be able to manage a program this vast and this big is going to take some imagination, it’s going to take somebody that’s got the ability to show people what right looks like. And I believe Ross is that man that will be able to do that.”

Last month, NCAA president Charlie Baker proposed a new subdivision within Division I that would allow institutions with the highest resources — presumably those in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC — to compensate athletes directly via direct NIL payments and what Baker calls an “educational trust fund.”

Bjork supported that proposal Wednesday.

“We have a leader in Charlie Baker, who has at least acknowledged that, as a starting point, all the programs over $100 million budgets, we’re different,” he said.

That was long after Bjork declared: “We need to deconstruct and recreate the antiquated NCAA governance and divisional structure. At a minimum, there needs to be consolidation of the highest-resource programs around a new financial governance model.

“We either take action now, or action will continue to be taken upon us. Enough conversations, enough lobbying, enough legal battles, it’s time that we make a plan as an enterprise. And I look forward to locking arms with [Big Ten] Commissioner Tony Petitti, and Ohio State and the Big Ten can lead the way along with the rest of our national colleagues.”

As for NIL, Bjork emphasized Wednesday the need for structure and constant communication about player value. It looks different at every university, he said. Wherever you are, though, he said you can’t lose sight of the culture component of roster building.

“That’s going to still matter,” Bjork pointed out. “Team culture, team chemistry.”

Bjork said he’s excited to get back to Ohio State in March when he’ll learn under outgoing AD Gene Smith as a senior advisor. Bjork envisions an athletic department with an NIL hub, where revenue flows in and out.

“Revenue generation, revenue acquisition, we have to embrace all of it. NIL to buying a T-shirt and everything in between is something that we will embrace heavily,” Bjork said.

“And we will get after it.”

Buckeyes set to hire Bill O’Brien as new offensive coordinator

ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news. Lettermen Row confirmed it: Ohio State is hiring Bill O’Brien to be the Buckeyes’ next offensive coordinator.

O’Brien, the former Penn State and Houston Texans head coach who also has plenty of OC experience, most recently served as the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator during the 2023 NFL season.

He’s gone back to the college ranks before. O’Brien took the OC/quarterbacks coach job at Alabama ahead of the 2021 season and helped Bryce Young win the Heisman Trophy in an explosive Crimson Tide offense.

For more on O’Brien, go here.

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Picking Buckeyes breakout players for winter workouts

Winter workouts are under way at Ohio State. It’s a critical phase of the offseason where strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti has a chance to mold the players into who they are from a physical and mental toughness standpoint.

It’s also more important than ever conditioning-wise, considering the Buckeyes could play as many as 17 games next season with an expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff.

With that in mind, the Lettermen Row crew each picked out one offensive player and one defensive player who’s poised to break out during Ohio State winter workouts.

Check it out here.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 225 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 316 days

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