Eugene Smith

Mr. Smith served as Senior Vice President and Athletic Director at Ohio State University from 2005 to 2024. Throughout his tenure, he co-chaired the NCAA’s Federal-State Legislative Working Group, which advised the NCAA on name, image, and likeness issues, chaired the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee and was a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. Additionally, he participated in the NCAA’s Management Council, the Committee on Infractions, the Executive Committee, the Football Rules Committee, and the President’s Commission Liaison Committee. As the first Black president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and a former president of the Division I-A Athletics Directors Association, Smith was the Director of Athletics at Arizona State from 2000 to 2005, at Iowa State from 1993 to 2000 and at Eastern Michigan from 1986 to 1993. He played football as an undergraduate at Notre Dame, where he was a defensive end on the 1973 national championship team and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. After graduation, he joined the coaching staff at Notre Dame and contributed to the Irish victory in the 1977 national championship.