Ohio State University announced Texas A&M's Ross Bjork will be the new athletics director, pending approval by the Ohio State Board of Trustees at its next meeting in February.
Bjork, 51, will take over for retiring senior vice president and Wolfe Foundation-Eugene Smith Endowed Athletics Director Gene Smith, who is set to leave his position in July. Bjork is a native of Dodge City, Kansas and has been at Texas A&M since 2019, and previously was athletics director at the University of Mississippi and Western Kentucky University.
Bjork joins OSU as USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington join the Big Ten amid a rapidly changing landscape in college football in which Smith has been heavily involved. Bjork will have to face this change in college athletics as well as other recent changes like realignment, name-image-likeness and the transfer portal.
“I have been extraordinarily blessed to be a product of college athletics as a student-athlete and fortunate to work with so many outstanding student-athletes, coaches, staff and university leaders throughout my career, and Ohio State represents the culmination of these efforts,” Bjork said in a statement. “To be a part of Buckeye Nation, along with its storied traditions and long history of achievement, is a tremendous honor and a welcome challenge for me and our family. I can’t wait to get started.”
The announcement comes just a couple of weeks after OSU President Ted Carter started in his position. Carter told reporters hiring a new athletics director was one of his top priorities.
Carter praised Bjork in a statement on Tuesday and said few athletics directors have such an impressive and strong record of success in athletics, in the classroom and in the community.
“The bar is incredibly high at Ohio State, and we have found in Ross a highly intelligent and effective leader, not to mention a fierce competitor," Carter said.
Bjork is also a former student athlete at his alma mater Emporia University.
OSU said in a statement that as senior vice president and Wolfe Foundation-Eugene Smith Endowed Athletics Director, Bjork will be a member of President Carter's cabinet.
Bjork also serves as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics first vice president and is on the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Experience Committee. Bjork previous served as part of numerous national organizations, including the NCAA Division I Working Group on Transfers and NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, and as chair of the Southeastern Conference Awards Committee.
Bjork will follow Smith, who is seen as one of the most influential ADs in the country.
Smith was named OSU's athletics director in 2005 and is in his 19th year at the university. Ohio State teams have won 115 team Big Ten titles under Smith. He had signed a four-year contract extension in 2021.
Bjork and Carter are scheduled to address reporters on Wednesday.
