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Thoughts/opinions on Gene Smith?

ISUChippewa

ISUChippewa

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
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So Gene's been out there quite a bit lately, what with the simultaneous "debacles" of TresselGate and the hack job he and the committee did with UAB and VCU. It's sometimes hard to remember that he used to be ISU's AD, since that was more than ten years ago now and he has become such a national figure at Ohio State. I think he did some good things here at ISU, such as hiring Tim Floyd and then LE, but I got the feeling that ISU was likely never much more than a "stepping stone" for him. I would say Ohio State is about as good as it gets for college athletics, so his ambition obviously paid off for him.

I'm just wondering what other Cyclone fans impressions are of the guy and how good of a job he did here from 1993-2000. He actually lived in my neighborhood (out in Hickory Hills) and even though I was going to school at UNI at the time and moved to Michigan in 1998, I do remember him at a couple of neighborhood BBQ's and he seemed like a nice enough guy, certainly more so than the socially inept BVDV.

What do you all think?
 
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From BF's twitter:

"I have great respect for Gene Smith AD at Ohio State-a tough week but a guy who has dedicated his life to college sports! Hired me at ISU! "

Guess he's a good guy ? My friend went to Arizona State and from his point of view, ASu was pretty happy with him when he was there.
 
I knew Gene a little bit, too. Nice guy. Very approachable.
I think he works his hind end off for the Big 10 on the selection committee. I think the Big 10 is overseeded, and that will always rankle me. But in all honesty if he was acting in the same manner on behalf of the Big 12, I'd be singing his praises.
My only gripe about GS is introducing navy blue into the ISU color scheme. Things haven't been the same ever since.
 
Gene is a very good guy and a great AD. He made some very strong hires, he ran the department well.


I also think he has 1000000000x the personality for the job than BVD.

I can remember trying to avoid Gene at Hy-Vee a couple of times with my wife because if you ran into Gene, rarely did hello begin and end the conversation. He was chatty.
 
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Naughtius said:
I knew Gene a little bit, too. Nice guy. Very approachable.
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I think approachable is a very good way to describe him. In the few times I interacted with him I found him to be a genuinely friendly and warm person. He didn't care if you were a big donor or a little guy.

The one complaint I ever heard about him was that he wasn't a detail person. He was a "dreamer" who'd come up with an idea and turn it over to someone else to execute and not provide much leadership. I don't have a problem with this, however, as I think it is sometimes an executive's job to be a visionary and delegate.

I think he was a very good AD for Iowa State.
 
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I don't personally know him but he comes off as a moron. Anyone could tell you that Colorado and Va Tech deserved to be in before VCU and UAB. I also think that he had to have had an idea to what was going on with the Tressel deal. Like I said I don't know him and I was very young when he was here but this years selection coupled with the incident with Tressel and the 5 players really makes me hate him.
 
I agree, Gene was a very good AD at Iowa State, but I also agree that this was a stepping stone job for him. So I do have a little bitterness toward him, but I can't really blame him. I'm more jealous that he and tOSU are having their success, and I wish we could have had that and kept him here.
 
ISUChippewa said:
So Gene's been out there quite a bit lately, what with the simultaneous "debacles" of TresselGate and the hack job he and the committee did with UAB and VCU. It's sometimes hard to remember that he used to be ISU's AD, since that was more than ten years ago now and he has become such a national figure at Ohio State. I think he did some good things here at ISU, such as hiring Tim Floyd and then LE, but I got the feeling that ISU was likely never much more than a "stepping stone" for him. I would say Ohio State is about as good as it gets for college athletics, so his ambition obviously paid off for him.

I'm just wondering what other Cyclone fans impressions are of the guy and how good of a job he did here from 1993-2000. He actually lived in my neighborhood (out in Hickory Hills) and even though I was going to school at UNI at the time and moved to Michigan in 1998, I do remember him at a couple of neighborhood BBQ's and he seemed like a nice enough guy, certainly more so than the socially inept BVDV.

What do you all think?
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I had the opportunity to golf with Gene multiple times as well as have dinner with him a couple of times as my dad was very involved in the cyclone club. I always had a great time with him and he was a very nice guy. He remembers alot of things about people which amazed me with how many people the guys meets a year. He always asked me about little details in my life that we had talked about last time I saw him and truly seemed like he cared and wasn't just lip service. As a high school kid i always thought it was cool that someone as high up as him remembered little things like that. After ISU made the decision to withdraw my scholarship offer after my injury in high school and I had decided to play D-II instead of walk on at ISU Gene personally called my parents to tell them he was sad I wouldn't be at ISU but also to wish me the best of luck in the future and to let me know that the door is always open if I ever wanted to come to ISU. I was also very surprised to get a graduation card in the mail from him as well.

My folks got to know him very well and have nothing but great things to say about him. All in all he was a very personable and nice guy who did great things while at ISU.

Now I don't like the way he's handles the OSU thing and I agree bad decision to add blue to ISU back in 96 but all in all a great AD.
 
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IMO ISU would have a much stronger athletic department if Gene Smith would have been around instead of BVD all those years. The success of the programs during the BVD timeframe was thanks more to Smith than to BVD.

However, I was told that the reason penny pinching BVD came in was because the fiscal house the athletic dept was a mess. I don't know that first hand, just what I was told by those who were old enough to pay attention to that sort of thing when it happened.
 
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isufbcurt said:
Agree but Smith supported the Johnny Majors Practice Fields and the turf field (where the indoor facility is now). These were big steps even though they seem small now.
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It was a step forward for sure, but I'm very glad I never got tackled on that field.

Sandpaper on concrete
 
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