Inside OSU response to B1G football cancellation as texts, emails revealed

COLUMBUS, Ohio –– The Big Ten’s brief COVID-19-caused fall sports cancellation sparked public outcry, protests and uncertainty far and wide last August, but the results of a records request Wednesday revealed the specific thoughts, questions and concerns on the minds of several Ohio State administrators during that tumultuous time period.

Thousands of texts and emails from the likes of Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and university president Kristina Johnson, among others, were released by the university Wednesday to conclude a public records request made by BuckeyeGrove and other outlets in 2020.

Among the revelations –– which also included messages from other Big Ten administrators, Ohio State public relations staff members, Buckeye team coaches and parents –– were drafts of spring football plans and several eye-opening back and forths between Smith and Johnson in particular.

Noteworthy among the aforementioned conversations were messages that pertained to Ohio State’s potential to leave the Big Ten and play independently in the fall, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren’s lack of belief in initial Ohio State parent protest efforts, and Smith’s weariness that Buckeye players could be poached by other teams.

Of course, a shortened Big Ten season was eventually reinstated last September, sparking an Ohio State run to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, but nonetheless, we have broken down several of those topics below as we take a deep dive into Wednesday’s records release.

On Aug. 10, Smith received a message from an Ohio State communications employee that included a tweet from the Dan Patrick Show, alleging that 12 Big Ten presidents had already voted against playing a fall season.

This, of course, was the day before the Big Ten officially announced to postpone the fall sports season until at least the spring, and Smith disputed the claim from the Dan Patrick Show, saying in the message “there was no vote.”

Subsequently, several texts revealed attempts by a number of members of the press and other Ohio State faculty to figure out the level of participation that new president-elect Johnson would have in a voting process.

In fact, in a message from Aug. 9, Johnson reached out to Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren to ask if she would have an official vote, or if an interim president should be on a call with the rest of the Big Ten presidents to cast one.

Warren did not appear to respond to Johnson’s message on Aug. 9, prompting a follow-up from Johnson the next day that seemed to lead to a phone conversation on the afternoon of Aug. 10

On the morning of Aug. 11, the same day official word broke that the season would be canceled until at least the spring, Johnson reached out to Smith to ask if he was on board with the postponement.

“No, if that is proposal we should vote no… in my view,” Smith wrote back.

Smith said he would not support postponing to the spring, and instead backed delaying any official vote until late September or Oct. 1.

On the morning of Aug. 12, Johnson asked Smith if there was any way for the Buckeyes to go independent, as several other Power Five conferences still planned on playing a fall season at the time.

Smith’s text here reveals that he did make an attempt to figure out if Ohio State could leave the Big Ten to find a way to salvage some semblance of a fall season.

“I am trying to understand our contracts and if we can play independent this year,” Smith wrote. “Nebraska is trying to and gone public with it.”

On the same afternoon as the previous text, Johnson tells Smith that she has spoken to the chancellor at Nebraska, which was the program most vocal about pursuing a fall season in the immediate aftermath of the Big Ten cancellation.

However, Smith told Johnson that the Buckeyes cannot play in the fall, a revelation he appeared to come to following a conversation with the Big Ten commissioner.

"Spoke with Kevin and he clarified, we are good, working on a spring plan, all good, you chill!!" Smith wrote to Johnson.

On the afternoon of Aug. 15, Smith raised concerns that Ohio State football players may leave the program due to the Big Ten cancellation.

Part of the message here was redacted, but Smith's concerns are clear.

"Agents and other schools are trying to poach our players," Smith wrote. "We had a recruit decommit, and we are battling trying to hold on to players because of our uncertainty."

No Buckeye football players transferred to other programs during this time, but defensive back Shaun Wade and offensive lineman Wyatt Davis both briefly declared for the NFL Draft in September before returning to school once the Big Ten reversed its decision.

Smith alludes to a "framework plan", which is likely a reference to the plans kicked around by conference coaches and administrators for a spring football season.

In this message from Aug. 15, Johnson tells Smith that Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren thinks that a letter from Ohio State players' parents stating the desire for their children to play in the fall despite COVID-19 was "being manufactured."

"I am not happy, pretty serious charge," Johnson wrote to Smith about Warren's claim.

The letter in question was written by the Football Parents Association of Ohio State on Aug. 15, and addressed to Warren specifically, and listed a number of requests to be addressed.

Smith is surprised by Warren's claim in this response to Johnson, as he says that the parent group is a "formal organization with a with a president, vice president, etc."

"Wow, how would he know..." Smith wrote.

Warren's alleged skepticism expressed in these messages to Smith stands in contrast to the multiple in-person protests that were subsequently organized by Ohio State football player parents like Randy Wade –– father of Shaun –– who rallied gatherings at the Big Ten headquarters in Chicago as well as outside of Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

Also of note is that Smith appears to reject the idea of giving fall-sport athletes an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith said if the Buckeyes were to play in January or February, that he would not be in favor of granting players an extra year, but that if the season was not played at all, then he would be.

However, even with the season eventually starting in the late fall, both fall and winter-sport athletes were granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.

On the same day as the previous conversation, Smith tells Johnson "we are getting killed for not reversing this decision." This is in reference to the backlash and outcry in Ohio and around the country, and much of which was readily available in the records request Wednesday as a number of Ohio State alumni sent disparaging emails to university administrators about the situation.

Smith also said in this message that the letter from the FPAOS is "genuine." Johnson asks if the Buckeye parents can sign their names to the letter to prove to the commissioner that it is real, and Smith says that they are already doing so on social media.

In this email to what seems to be the angered parent of an Ohio State football player (the name was redacted), Smith expresses the hardships he has dealt with since the cancellation took place.

Smith said he failed the Ohio State student-athletes, and described his anger and frustration.

"Sleepless nights have a new definition for me, sleep is no longer an element of that scenario," Smith wrote. "My brain and heart will not stop."

On the night of Aug. 16, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer texted Johnson to express empathy for the situation, given that she had only just begun her new role as university president.

"Always here to assist in any way. Players and parents have been reaching out to me non stop," Meyer wrote in part.

Johnson responds to tell Meyer that she hoped to postpone the ultimate decision about the season until Sept. 26. Johnson referred to the cancellation as a "very sad situation", and thanked Meyer for reaching out.

This story will be updated with further information as it develops.