COLUMBUS, OHIO (AP) - Ohio State president Gordon Gee plans to stick to academics from now on, leaving football to his athletic director and Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel.
Gee has been criticized for telling The Associated Press last week that teams from the Big Ten and SEC deserve to play in BCS bowl games more than schools such as TCU, because they play a “murderer’s row” of opponents and “we do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor.”
Gee told the Columbus Dispatch on Wednesday that he should not have gotten involved and “what I should do is go over to the surgical suites and get my foot extricated from my mouth.”
“I’m very blessed to have the best athletic director and best football coach in the country,” Gee told the newspaper. “What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher. I have no business talking about college football.”
Opponents of the BCS have used Gee’s comments as evidence of bias in the current system toward power conferences such as the Big Ten. They also point out that Ohio State played the 64th most difficult scheduled this season, on par with Boise State (62) and TCU (76).
Gee wouldn’t say whether his comments were accurate, according to the Columbus Dispatch, only that he shouldn’t have gotten involved.
As for the comment about the “Little Sisters of the Poor,” a Roman Catholic religious organization for women? Gee said he personally offered a mea culpa to a Little Sisters of the Poor home in Oregon, Ohio.
“I sent a (personal) check to the Mother Superior up there,” Gee said, “and invited her to a ballgame.”
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