COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State University President Gordon Gee is taking part in a “remediation plan” because of some “inappropriate” comments he made about Notre Dame University and Roman Catholics.
Gee, a mormon, said Notre Dame wasn’t invited to join the Big Ten because the university’s priests wouldn’t be good partners.
“The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week,” Gee said to laughter at a Dec. 5 meeting of the school’s Athletic Council. The recording was obtained by the Associated Press under a public records request.
“You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that.”
Gee has since apologized in a statement to the Associated Press.
“The comments I made were just plain wrong, and in no way do they reflect what the university stands for,” he said. “They were a poor attempt at humor and entirely inappropriate.”
The AP reports Ohio State trustees met with Gee in January and created the remediation plan to “address his behavior.”
“These statements were inappropriate, were not presidential in nature and do not comport with the core values of the University,” board president Robert Schottenstein said.
Notre Dame has resisted the Big Ten’s efforts to sign them up for years, and announced in September that it would join the ACC in all sports except football.
During the meeting, Gee also took swipes at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the University of Louisville.
One of the goals of the Big Ten schools is to “make certain that we have institutions of like-minded academic integrity,” Gee said. “So you won’t see us adding Louisville.” Gee added that the Big Ten wouldn’t consider the University of Kentucky either.
When asked how to respond to SEC fans that said the Big Ten — with 14 members now — can’t count, Gee countered “You tell the SEC when they can learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we’re doing.”
Read more of the Associated Press’ reporting on Gee’s comments here.