Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told co-hosts Paul Keels and Jim Lachey on The Ryan Day Radio Show that there have been talks to reinstate the 12 wins that were vacated from the Buckeyes’ 2010 season due to Tattoogate.
Although he said the conversations are just in its preliminary stages, he thinks it’s an important conversation to have with Ohio state legislators.
“I had to testify in front of a legislative committee at the state capitol, and I hadn’t heard about it. There was a proposed state bill that would get those (wins) back. I heard about that,” Bjork said. “It’s something, I think, given the climate, you have to at least ask the question. We haven’t really pursued a whole lot, but there are a few questions that we have asked. Who knows where it’ll go?”
Bjork was the athletic director at the University of Mississippi from 2012-19, and had to undergo the program vacating 33 football wins over six seasons in 2019.
The team also had to vacate the Rebels’ 2016 Sugar Bowl victory over Oklahoma State — one Bjork was particularly upset about, he said.
“Those things are usually just a piece of paper,” Bjork said. “We know what happened in those years. I was part of (Ole Miss) program that had to vacate some wins. We still won the Sugar Bowl here at Ole Miss because everyone was there. We held up the trophy. And so those are the things that you go through. But it’s definitely a different climate. The conversations are a lot different than they were before.”
Lachey joked that now-lieutenant governor Jim Tressel was the head coach of the 2010 Buckeyes, and could be a helping hand in the process.
Though, Bjork acknowledged that the long-time Buckeyes coach was in a spot to play an impactful role in reinstating the wins.
“He’s right there at the statehouse,” Bjork said. “We do have access to him. We can at least have a conversation with him.”
