New Ohio State AD Ross Bjork faced accusations of lying about former Ole Miss coach

Ohio State’s new athletic director Ross Bjork speaks at a news conference at the Covelli Center on Jan. 17, 2024, where he was introduced to the Buckeye community.

All Houston Nutt wanted was an apology.

Nutt was working for CBS Sports in 2016 when he kept seeing his name linked to serious NCAA violations from his time as football coach at the University of Mississippi.

Ole Miss had fired Nutt five years earlier. He had no idea who was spreading what he considered to be false information, but it was pervasive. After even his own mother questioned him during his visit in Little Rock, Arkansas, Nutt decided to act.

“When your mom says, ‘Do you have Level 1 violations?’’ Nutt told The Dispatch. “That’s what hurts the most because you always tried to do it the right way for my 30 years of coaching, especially as a head coach, and that was bothersome.”

Nutt knew a pastor in Little Rock who was friends with attorney Tom Mars. Mars started digging and was amazed by what he found.

He became convinced that Ole Miss had orchestrated what he called a smear campaign against his client and eventually filed a lawsuit alleging so. One of the central figures in that effort, Mars believed, was Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork, Ohio State’s incoming athletic director.

During Bjork’s seven-year tenure, the NCAA would twice find Ole Miss guilty of violations and place the school on probation. Nutt’s lawsuit — Bjork was not a defendant — was settled faster after its filing than any litigation he’s ever handled, Mars said.

On Jan. 16, Bjork was named to succeed retiring Gene Smith as Ohio State’s athletic director. Eyebrows were raised across the country that new OSU president Ted Carter made Bjork his first major hire.

It wasn’t just that OSU didn’t choose one of the several candidates who had worked under Smith…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ohio-state-ad-ross-bjork-110736986.html

Author : The Columbus Dispatch

Publish date : 2024-02-15 11:07:36

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