Walters '67 to take over as AD at Ohio State

Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 has accepted the athletic director position at Ohio State University. He was offered the job after former Ohio St. AD Andy Geiger resigned Jan. 5 amid scandals surrounding the Buckeye football and men's basketball programs.

Geiger's resignation takes effect in June, when Walters will take over.

Walters' reign at Princeton has been only slightly less scandal-prone than Geiger's. Over the past four years, at least seven Princeton athletes have been removed from the playing field because of academic ineligibility or Honor Code violations.

"I wanted to go to a place where I wouldn't have to deal with so many sports that have academic problems," Walters said. "I mean, it's only two sports at Ohio State, but we've got cheaters at Princeton in just about everything but crew.

"Oh, who am I kidding? Crew's just as bad."

Walters' consistent anti-academic stand had created enemies over the last few years at Princeton, and he hopes to find an environment at Ohio St. that fosters the "co-curricular" nature of athletics.

"It turns out kids there can play sports and count them as classes," Walters said. "Now that's what I call 'co-curricular.' "

Geiger was happy with his replacement and confident that his legacy of superior performance in the revenue sports of football and men's basketball would not be obscured by any academic goals.

"I share Gary's contempt for the increasingly narrow school-related goals of academia," Geiger said. "A lot can be gained through athletics: learning how to work as a team, execute under pressure, launder money, scam the NCAA, take money from boosters and agents — These are things that help in all fields of life.

"And those positives can only be learned by the best high school athletes. That's why we will never compromise our recruiting standards for our academic standards. Bad athletes can't gain from playing intercollegiate sports. We're just trying to help the good ones."

Walters' membership in the good ol' boys network of intercollegiate athletics has been cemented by this move.

"Being on the NCAA basketball tournament selection committee last year was a big step up for me in the network," Walters said, "but nothing says 'sellout' like Ohio State." This article is part of The Daily Princetonian's 2005 Joke Issue.