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A Message From the
President
It has been a challenging year
for Ohio State football.
The team, administration, and our great alumni and fans have
experienced some trying times as we’ve dealt with issues
involving our program. We all take a great deal of pride in Ohio
State football, and it’s disappointing when it doesn’t live up
to the lofty expectations that have been established, whether we
are talking about on- or off-field standards.
I’ve been asked quite often about the NCAA violations and
allegations made against our program. I wish I had an easy
answer that would satisfy everyone, but that is not the case.
The fact is that some serious mistakes were made. As a
university, we acknowledge that reality. Those mistakes involve
a number of people both inside and outside the program, although
I do think the far-reaching nature of the problems has been
overstated.
Still, we need to move past the point of meting out blame. As
Woody often said, it isn’t getting knocked down that is
important, it is how you get up. I have full confidence that
regardless of what mistakes were made, we are going to learn
from them and take the steps necessary to make sure they do not
happen in the future.
We are committed at Ohio State to developing a state-of-the-art,
campus-wide compliance program. We will have the best possible
protocols and processes in place that ensure we meet our own
high bar of success. Buckeyes are about leading, and in this
case we will make certain that our compliance standards are
impeccable. That is essential.
Since the NCAA investigation process is not complete as of this
writing, I can’t share specifics on what will change. I can say
that these mistakes have caused people across the university to
take a long, hard look at how we handle the business of
compliance and the culture of our football program. That
self-examination has been fruitful and will lead to some
necessary and important steps toward improvement.
In the interim, I know this situation has caused stress for our
alumni and fans. Ohio State football is always in the spotlight;
and when that spotlight reveals flaws, it can be tough to take.
We understand that reality and sympathize with you.
At the same time, I hope you recognize that there are so many
reasons to be proud of your university. Unfortunately, the
football situation has overshadowed many of Ohio State’s amazing
achievements. In some instances, these aren’t being broadly
reported in the media, but they show great success in Ohio
State’s core work and are evidence that your alma mater is
progressing at an exceptional rate.
Here are a few recent and exciting developments, and I would
encourage you to share these with others if you have the
opportunity:
The OSU Medical Center was recently named among the nation’s
top-10 academic medical systems, the only Ohio hospital to make
the list.
GE Capital recently pledged $10 million to Ohio State’s Fisher
College of Business to help conduct research on middle-market
U.S. businesses.
The university’s new freshman class is the strongest in school
history, averaging an ACT score of more than 28.
Ohio State ranks second nationally in industry-sponsored
research and had a record $829 million research expenditures for
fiscal year 2011. This is evidence that the university is making
good on its status as one of the country’s top research
institutions.
There are other facts I could present that show the great work
that is happening here. That is why despite the challenges we
are facing with our football team, I feel so confident about
where we are headed at Ohio State. We will get past these trying
times, and we will be better off for it. |
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