Nationally recognized as one of the most comprehensive in all of college athletics, the Ohio State Department of Athletics offers 36 intercollegiate sports.
| Completely self supporting, The Ohio State Department of Athletics has an operating budget of $80 million. |
Few schools can boast the overall history of success the Ohio State Buckeyes have enjoyed over the years. The varsity program is respected as one of the most comprehensive in all of college athletics and now is 36 sports strong – 16 for men, 17 for women and three coed. The department operates on a budget in excess of $80 million. Each year, Ohio State teams claim numerous Big Ten championships, compete in NCAA tournaments and vie for national titles while producing countless individual conference and national champions, All-America performers and scholar-athletes.
Ohio State’s Department of Athletics is under the direction of Andy Geiger. Just the seventh athletics director in Ohio State history, Geiger has developed a vision that will keep the Buckeyes among the nation’s elite in the 21st century.
Some of the greatest names in athletics have worn the Scarlet and Gray, most notably four-time Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens, golf great Jack Nicklaus, two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin and two-time NCAA men’s basketball Player of the Year Jerry Lucas.
Other famous Buckeyes include the late Woody Hayes, who coached the football team to a sparkling 205-61-10 record from 1951-78; Stephanie Hightower, the former world and American record holder in the 60-yard hurdles; John Havlicek, who helped lead Ohio State to the 1960 NCAA basketball title before an NBA Hall of Fame career with the Boston Celtics; Jim Jackson, the 1992 National Player of the Year for men’s basketball; Tracey Hall, one of the Big Ten’s only two-time All-America basketball honorees; Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner; Orlando Pace, the first player to repeat as Lombardi Award winner and the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NFL Draft; and Katie Smith, OSU’s first women’s basketball representative in the Olympic games and the Big Ten’s all-time scoring leader.
Ohio State is recognized across the country as a leader in collegiate athletics. More than 1,000 student-athletes participated on 36 OSU athletics teams in 2002-03.
Geiger believes the whole of athletics success starts with success of the individual parts. Those individual parts worked, competed and prospered well enough to put Ohio State among the national leaders in the prestigious Director’s Cup, given annually to the nation’s most successful athletics program. Ohio State enjoyed its best finish (3rd) in 2002-03.
Annually among the Top 20 in the standings, Ohio State strives to contend for the award each year.
Teams, individual student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators regularly claim championships, academic and athletics awards, recognition and praise for their tireless efforts as Ohio State Department of Athletics family members.
With rich tradition as a foundation and with the completion of Bill Davis Baseball Stadium, the Jerome Schottenstein Center, Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, the Younkin Success Center and the Ohio Stadium renovation, the Buckeyes’ outlook for the future appears even brighter than their glorious past.
