On Oct. 16, Ohio State Athletic Director Ross Bjork visited The Lantern’s newsroom and sat down one-on-one with Sports Editor Noah Weiskopf.
Bjork discussed his thoughts on the Oct. 12 Oregon game, head coach Ryan Day’s future at Ohio State, how he expects to balance recruitment and Name, Image and Likeness opportunities moving forward, expectations for the men’s basketball program, “Project 36” and more.
Bjork highlighted the high-intensity atmosphere at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, the exceptional fan experience and the fact there were two heavyweight teams going at it.
Looking back, Bjork said he knew the Buckeyes had opportunities to win the game, but they just couldn’t capitalize on them.
“I felt if we could ever get up two scores in that game, I thought we could’ve put them away,” Bjork said. “It was a dog fight; it was back and forth.”
Despite Ohio State’s 32-31 emotional loss to then-No. 3 Oregon, Bjork said his focus immediately turned to supporting Day and the players.
“Yeah, you’re upset that you lost the game,” Bjork said. “But I can’t act emotionally. I have to be supportive. I’ve got to be positive. I’ve got to uplift.”
Still, Bjork said he needed to look at the big picture after losing a top-three matchup on the road.
“There were probably 100 different emotions going through my head in the last minute of that game,” Bjork said. “But it included a lot of perspective and leadership. Now, we have to lead. Now, we have to regroup. Now, we have to pick Will Howard off the field and help him get back on track.”
When asked about Day’s 2-6 record as a head coach in top-five matchups and his overall status, Bjork said it’s completely valid to point out record-related facts.
At the same time, Bjork said he’s more focused on ensuring Day has what he needs to be the most successful coach he can be moving forward.
“My job is to figure out with Coach Day, are there any barriers?” Bjork said. “What are you analyzing as we go through this? What are you looking at in terms of watching the film or watching the schematics or watching the game plan? What led up to that particular game or that particular moment? My job is just to support him, help him through that, help him analyze any deficiencies that might be there, but we gotta remember, we lost to the No. 3 team on the road by one point and had the ball, had a chance to win.”
Ever since stepping foot into the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Bjork said he has been floored by Day’s approach and leadership.
“Coach Day is the most consistent football coach and leader that I’ve been around in my career,” Bjork said. “He has a level-headed perspective, he works his tail off, he’s a super innovator in terms of the modern-day game; we’ve adapted to this whole new model. So, you’ve got to look at the big picture and sit down and say, ‘OK, what do we need to do to fix that record? What do we need to do to manage through this and support our players and get back on track?’”
Bjork also spoke highly about Day’s ability to consistently recruit elite players with good character to Ohio State.
“Recruiting is like brushing your teeth,” Bjork said. “If you stop brushing your teeth, you get ugly. If you stop recruiting, you can get ugly pretty fast and recruiting is nonstop.”
In recent years, the Buckeyes have been extremely successful in recruiting players to Columbus, but with new NIL nuances, that’s now only a small portion of the process.
Notably, Ohio State had players like wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and quarterback Julian Sayin recently commit to the program thanks to the recruitment portal.
But with NIL, other teams can now offer high-caliber players financial incentives and monetary deals to come play for their respective schools. So, player retention has become a more pressing factor for the Buckeyes.
Bjork said there are many important contributors to keeping elite people and players at Ohio State.
“I think the teams that are going to succeed at the highest level in this new era, they’re going to have culture, they’re going to have chemistry, they’re going to have leadership,” Bjork said “Does that mean everyone will stay? Not necessarily. There are transfers that left the program for a variety of reasons. In this era, you’re gonna have that, but how do you make sure your nucleus, how do you make sure the core folks stay involved? That goes down to the leadership piece, that goes down to the culture.”
Expectations for men’s basketball head coach Jake Diebler
The men’s basketball program may have underperformed in recent years, but it has also experienced success in its storied history.
The first step in the right direction, according to Bjork, was hiring Diebler to be the full-time head coach after former head coach Chris Holtmann was fired and Diebler served as his interim replacement.
“When I met [Diebler] on March 3, I said, ‘OK, I’m going to keep my eye on this,’” Bjork said. “But also, we’re going to do a national search, and the expectations are that we’re in the hunt for a Big Ten Championship; we’re in the hunt to make a long run at the NCAA Tournament.”
Bjork believes the basketball schedule — which sees the Buckeyes face off against schools like Texas, Texas A&M, Auburn, Kentucky and Pittsburgh — will help the team down the road.
“Those kind[s] of games will prepare you for a postseason run,” Bjork said.
This offseason, the team added multiple players to its backcourt, and Bjork thinks these acquisitions will be critical in achieving a successful season.
“The teams that have guard play usually do well in March,” Bjork said. “And we have a deep backcourt. I think our team is built for excitement, for fun, for high energy, for up tempo. That fits [Diebler’s] mentality, so I think our fans are in for a treat in the first year.”
Project 36 and the new collegiate athletics economic model
The new Project 36 model will have three buckets of financial aid for the athletes, with each sport falling into one of the groups. One bucket includes traditional scholarships plus revenue share. Another bucket will only include scholarships, and the last bucket will not receive scholarships from athletics.
“How we spend our money is what we’re really focusing on right now,” Bjork said. “What does that look like, knowing that we’re gonna have a new expense of at least $21 or $22 million of revenue share that we’ll be able to really distribute to the athletes? And so, we’re working on what sports receive that revenue share.”
But with that $21 or $22 million, Bjork said the office must offset that money somewhere else, either with new revenue or reduced expense allocation.
Bjork said a final decision has not been made at this point in relation to Project 36.
“We want to protect 36 sports, so we have principles,” Bjork said. “Protect 36 sports, make sure we continue to focus on academics. We have a 96% graduation and placement rate of our athletes. Let’s make sure we maintain that our GPA of all of our student-athletes is over a 3.3. So, focus on academics, focus on competitive success.”
Bjork said the goal is to keep all 36 teams at Ohio State, but the athletic department may need to redefine expectations.
“We need to modernize and lead in this new era with 36 sports, where maybe people look at us and say, ‘Ohio State did it this way, and that’s a leadership position for us,’” Bjork said.
