Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith makes decision on Big Ten commissioner job

The Big Ten needs a new commissioner, and many eyes are on the Ohio State AD

Big Ten power brokers are on the lookout for a new commissioner after Kevin Warren left the job to become president of the Chicago Bears.

But it looks like we can cross one name off the list.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith went on the record to say that he is not interested in taking charge of the Big Ten conference.

"I'm not interested in that commissioner's job," Smith said to the Columbus Dispatch. "People keep asking me that and I'm like, 'Why?'"

Smith has run the Ohio State athletics department since 2005 and the school has won multiple national championships in that time.

Including in football, when the Buckeyes won the first-ever College Football Playoff national championship after the 2014 season.

The department is also among the nation's most successful financially.

The school announced recently that it made $256.1 million in total revenue during the year that went from July 2021 to the end of last June.

College football has no centralized office in the form of a commissioner the way the NFL does, so conference commissioners have historically held considerable power in determining the direction of the sport.

Including in the Big Ten, which made headlines a year ago when USC and UCLA announced their intention to join the conference in 2024.

But it appears that Smith would rather keep his position at the top of the Ohio State sports hierarchy rather than move into the conference-wide job.

The search for the Big Ten's next chief marches on.

(Dispatch)

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