OSU President Announces Retirement/ Pitino Reaction
Last Thursday Ohio State President E Gordon Gee comments from a December school meeting spread across the media like a ragging wildfire. He said that the “damn Catholics” at Notre Dame couldn’t be trusted and questioned the academic integrity of the SEC and the University of Louisville among other absurd comments. He since has apologized for his comments at the request of OSU. In a March 2011 letter to Gee the OSU trustees laid out several steps for him to take and warned any further incidents could result in his dismissal. In a school email yesterday, Gee announced that he will retire on July 1.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Gee discussed his future with his family while on a Disney Cruise. He said his retirement wasn’t just about his comments. “I have apologized for those remarks and feel incredibly sorry, but I have moved on” he told reporters during a phone interview . He added that he is “quirky as hell” and that he doesn’t do things like most people.
OSU Provost Joseph A. Alutto has agreed to serve as interim president, he previously served the same position in 2007. The Columbus Board of Education were to hold a vote this week on hiring Alutto for their Superintendent opening at the end of the month.
Gee noted his sudden departure now gives OSU a unique opportunity to hire Alutto as interim president before he took another job.
In my opinion, this is good for all of college athletics. Gee is part of the ‘Good Ol Boy network’ that has helped to hold back college football and provided road blocks for positive change. Hopefully new leadership will step forward and college athletics can move beyond power and money and get back to what it is supposed to be focused on, education and athletics.
After Gee comments hit the media last week so did Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino. He went on Louisville radio, the Terry Meiners Show on 840 WHAS, to defend U of L and to put Gee in his place.
“We’ve been the No. 1 grade point average in the Big East the past three years,” Pitino said according to transcripts from the show. “Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. … Ignorance is not just curtailed to coaches or other people; it’s curtailed to presidents as well. President Gee is obviously trying to crack jokes and denigrate other people, and in Louisville — I can’t speak for Kentucky; I’ll let John [Calipari] speak for them — we don’t take kindly to those comments, and we’re very insulted by it. And when people have to make jokes and denigrate others to get laughter, that means they’re truly ignorant of the facts, and certainly he is ignorant of the facts. Really bothered by it.”
Ironically it was Gee comments about Notre Dame and Catholics that drew the strongest response from Pitino. Again, from the show transcripts “What really gets me boiling,” said Pitino, “it’s not Louisville or Kentucky. What gets me boiling is the fact he knocks the Catholics at Notre Dame. I don’t know what denomination he is or what lord he prays to, but trying to get jokes out of that, it really, really boils me . … It’s a pompous attitude and certainly I have a major problem with him, not with Ohio State, and he’s a pompous ass for making those statements.”
Pompous ass indeed. OSU would do better if they had the integrity that U of L has when it comes to academics, and overall.
https://atlanticcoastconfidential.com/2013/05/31/osu-gee-takes-shots-at-acc-sec-and-nd/
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2013/06/gee-retiring-says-gaffes-not-reason.html
The Confidential 
‘Discussed your retirement with your family? The right time?’ Nice spin Gee! You were going to be fired if you didn’t quit…you know it, and so do we. You are a clown that keeps on saying the wrong things!
I think you nailed it right there, he’s a clown who keeps saying the wrong thing. He knew he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and that OSU trustees wouldn’t have choice but to fire him next time and there would be a next time. Let’s just be glade that the right thing has finally been done. We should remember that the OSU trustees has known about these comments since at least January and that Gee just recently apologized to Notre Dame.
Of course, did Notre Dame know about them? I think the real issue is the comments becoming public.
I realize this comment is not related to this post, but it touches on my observations that many within the B1G are some pretty smug asses who would give the IVY league schools a run for their money if a contest on arrogance were ever created.
Now a lot has been made about how great the B1G schools are in research and academic standing and these two observations are true, but everyone and I mean almost everyone is blowing the B1G’s CIC out of proportion.
Did you know that the CIC does not distribute any funds? Did you know that it plays no part in winning research grants? Don’t believe me? Here is a link to a Michigan Blog that discusses these topics:
http://www.maizenbrew.com/2010/6/10/1511330/big-ten-expansion-and-the-cic-are
Look, the CIC does offer some advantages, but don’t believe for a moment ACC fans that it is notion more than what it is.
“Did you know that the CIC does not distribute any funds? Did you know that it plays no part in winning research grants?”
Both true. What has more influence is where faculty members obtained their PhD degrees.
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