Gordon Gee Comments On The University of Cincinnati As Well
By Matt Niehaus
Yesterday we thought Ohio State President and Gaffe Master Gordon Gee only trashed Catholics and the SEC as well as Louisville. Today though Sports Illustrated published Gee’s comments on the University of Cincinnati. His
comments yesterday were funny but annoying. Today his comments on UC are infuriating, Gee insinuated that Cincinnati is an inferior university that isn’t an attractive school to any major conference. Gordon Gee is entitled to his own opinion, I spew mine here every day. But with giving your opinion you must expect some backslash. The backlash that will come out of Cincinnati and the fans is likely to be one Gee hasn’t seen.
Gordon Gee’s first quote on Cincinnati pertained to the ACC:
"“The blocking strategy is that we simply have now put the ACC in an almost no-win position. So who do they immediately go to? Louisville. They may think about Cincinnati. They may think about Connecticut. But they’ve lost their foothold in that middle part of the area, in that middle part of the Atlantic coast.”"
What Gee was saying here is that by taking Maryland and Rutgers from the ACC and the dying Big East they have essentially killed the ACC in the middle of the east coast. That is a debatable statement, honestly Maryland and Rutgers were never serious contenders in any major sport over the last few years. They’ll fall in line with Northwestern, Purdue, Penn State, Iowa and Illinois as also rans in the Big 10. The part of this quote that pertains to Cincinnati though is Gee insinuating that Cincinnati isn’t good enough for the ACC. Like Cincinnati would be a second list team for the ACC. Also inferring that his conference would never go after Cincinnati.
Gee’s next comments are bound to get under the skin of Cincinnati students, fans and alumni.
"“You know Penn State just abhors Pitt. It would be the same way. Even though we love Cincinnati as a city, we want it to be an Ohio State city. They’d have to take (athletic director) Gene (Smith) out and shoot him to let Cincinnati into the Big Ten. There are some things that we just would not do. And that’s the way that Penn State also feels about Pitt.”"
First off Cincinnati is a Cincinnati Bearcats city, not an Ohio State city. Red and Black control this city not Red and Silver, you can take your scarlet and grey and shove them up your ass its red and silver. Cincinnati at one time was an Ohio State city, until UC started becoming good, not only athletically but academically as well. Gordon Gee may “love” Cincinnati but it is certain Cincinnati does not love Gee. He then goes on to say UC would have to shoot Ohio State AD Gene Smith to get into the Big 10. Problem is Cincinnati has never wanted into the Big 10.
The positive part in this quote is it appears Ohio State is scared of Cincinnati in a sense. That right there is a win, Ohio State doesn’t want to share a state with a school mired in mediocre conferences yet Ohio State is to scared to play Cincinnati and scared to even think about letting UC into the Big 10.
As I was writing this UC President Santa Ono did tweet, that Gordon Gee apologized to him personally but he was still disappointed in Gee’s comments. At least Ono handled this with class.