Report: Ohio State targeting AD who signed Jimbo Fisher to massive extension

Jimbo Fisher, left, and Ross Bjork.

Losing a university $95M would be a fireable offense for some. For Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork, it could lead to a promotion.

Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Ohio State has targeted Bjork as its top target for its next athletic director. Gene Smith, who has served as the university’s athletic director since 2005, is retiring on June 30, 2024.

Bjork was hired by Texas A&M on May 23, 2019, and infamously gave former Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher a contract extension through 2031 that raised his annual salary from $7.5M to $9M in September 2021, worth roughly $95M overall.

In November 2023, Fisher was bought out of his contract for $77M, which the Columbus Dispatch notes is the largest buyout in college football history.

Ohio State should seemingly have its share of worthy candidates for its next athletic director; it’s interesting that Bjork would be the top prospect. Thamel described Texas A&M’s recent coaching search, which Bjork led, that culminated in Mike Elko’s hiring as “unartful.”

Bjork also served as the athletic director at Ole Miss from 2012-19, inheriting Hugh Freeze as head coach and overseeing his tenure’s controversial end. Freeze’s downfall, which former The Commercial Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins wrote was a result of “hubris, vengeance and sex,” was swift but didn’t come before Bjork issued a strong defense of the head coach.

Per Calkins, Bjork hailed Freeze as being responsible for building “the culture that’s right for our university” just days before his firing.

Those are two strikes against Bjork, and it appears as though he’ll get a chance for a third. That would be a major black eye for the Buckeyes.

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