Notes from Nemo
Ohio State revives Mississippi’s history, while LSU football is back in court on a fresh accusation
Old stories are the greatest sometimes. This one originates from an uncommon source and is almost a decade old. Ross Bjork, the new athletic director of Ohio University, was the subject of a recent message published in The Columbus Dispatch (the Ohio newspaper, not the Mississippi one). Bjork, as you may recall, spent a lot of time in the Southeastern Conference, first at Ole Miss later at Texas A&M. A month ago, he fled the frigid tundra for the Aggies.The story, which focuses on the late Rebel head football coach Houston Nutt, goes way back in Bjork’s résumé. Nutt was employed by CBS Sports at the time, having left Oxford. It still bothered Nutt that he left the Ole Miss sideline. In UM,
He was fired as a result of being connected to major NCAA infractions.
Years later, Nutt was still irritated and contacted Tom Mars, the lawyer his pastor had recommended. It was the attorney’s initial involvement with collegiate athletics. Mars was taken aback by what he discovered when he began to dig. He filed a lawsuit believing Ole Miss had orchestrated a “smear campaign” against Nutt. Ross Bjork was at the heart of the operation.The majority of MSU supporters are aware that during Bjork’s time at UM, the NCAA twice found Ole Miss guilty of infractions and put the athletic program on probation. Nutt’s lawsuit was quickly resolved,
quicker than any Mars has ever managed, according to the newspaper. The institution was able to remain silent after the settlement.
Many questioned Bjork’s hiring in Columbus when he was made AD. It was because Bjork had been embroiled in controversy at both Mississippi and A&M, not because OSU selected someone outside the Buckeye AD tree. Before firing Jimbo Fisher in College Station, Bjork had extended Fisher’s football coaching contract, in addition to the NCAA problems in Oxford, a little more than a year earlier. Buyout payments resulting from that relocation cost TAMU $77 million.
During his first press conference, OSU’s president, a retired Navy vice admiral, described Bjork’s experience as one where “a calm sea never produced a good sailor.”
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