What is the University of Toledo hiding?
How many gallons of gas are left in its light?
As Toledo begins its search for a new athletic director, its apparent revisionist narrative on the coming departure of the old one makes you wonder.
University president Dr. Gregory Postel continues to insist that longtime AD Mike O’Brien is retiring on his terms, all the while I’ve yet to meet a single person in the UT athletic community — boosters, coaches, staffers ... O’Brien — who buys that.
The two sides aren’t on a different page. They’re reading from a different book ... in a different section ... in a different language.
And that’s a problem.
In fact, that disconnect is the problem.
O’Brien’s nudge out the door is beside the point. He’s had a good run, and, if university leaders want to go in a new direction after 19 years, the desire for a fresh perspective is perfectly understandable.
Change can be invigorating.
But own the decision.
Stand up and be accountable.
Don’t tell us roses are blue, violets are red, and O’Brien is riding into the sunset, happily ever after.
Because they’re not.
And here’s where what should have been a small personnel drama instead raises a fundamental question: If the people who make Toledo athletics go don’t believe university leaders on one thing, how can they trust them on anything?
I don’t mean to wallop a dead horse here, or turn this into a federal inquiry, because ivory-tower politics never are.
But to functionally move into the future, all parties need to reconcile the past.
I’m confident we — Blade sports writer Kyle Rowland and I — presented an accurate portrayal of what happened in our recent story, “UT administration, board of trustees face rift with athletic community,” based on conversations with more than a dozen sources close to Toledo.
The gist: Board of Trustees chairman Alfred Baker wanted new athletic leadership and consolidated the power to make it happen.
To briefly revisit the timeline, well in advance of O’Brien’s contract coming up this past July, he made clear to former university president Sharon Gaber that he sought an extension.
Gaber kept O’Brien on hold, telling him, according to three sources, that Baker — who became board chair in July, 2020, and would be the chair when O’Brien’s contract expired — was opposed to any such move.
Gaber then resigned in April, 2020, to become the chancellor at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, leaving O’Brien’s fate in the hands of her successor. Postel was appointed interim president in July 2020 and named president in March.
“He didn’t have much of a choice [with O’Brien] if he wanted to be selected,” one prominent booster said of Postel.
O’Brien, 68, was set to be relieved this past July, with one more year remaining on his term on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee. While he asked for and was granted the opportunity to stay on at Toledo through the end of the 2022 NCAA tournament — and in January he announced what he and the school labeled his retirement — those close to the AD said he is hurt by the inability to leave on his terms.
Boo hoo, right? Welcome to college athletics.
With a little transparency the story would have ended there.
Except, by most indications, there wasn’t, and it hasn’t.
Postel told us before our story ran that O’Brien wasn’t pushed out — “The board and I had no involvement in that,” he said. “Mike plans his life and when he wants to retire.” — and he hasn’t budged.
Finally, after the board’s most recent meeting last week, I asked Postel: How is it possible that O’Brien himself clearly thinks he was fired?
“I don't know,” he said. “I don't know what he has decided or how he's changed his view on it.”
O’Brien declined to respond, saying, “As indicated earlier, focusing on my last six months and then looking forward to a new chapter on May 1.”
(Yes, while O’Brien’s silence speaks for itself, I’m well aware how it comes off in a column calling for transparency. He should talk.)
As for Baker, who had not previously responded to our repeated calls or texts, I caught up with him last week, too. Because he said he did not trust The Blade to fairly represent his comments, I’m including the transcript of the interview, beginning with our invitation to give his side of the story.
“There were a lot of bad things said about me that weren't correct, but I don't want to get into a back and forth.”
What was incorrect?
“A lot, and I don’t want to get into a back and forth, but you can go back and look at Joe Zerbey’s comments.”
Would you deny that you played the major role in pushing O’Brien out?
“Hell yeah.”
Who was responsible?
“Nobody. He had a conversation with whatever ... you need to talk to the president.”
Is it correct you took yourself off the search committee [for the new AD]?
“Yeah, it is.”
What was the reason?
“Because I didn’t want there to be any perception or thought process that I had any influence whatsoever. It was a good idea a month ago as a former athlete. Not now after that nasty article in The Blade."
You say there are things that were incorrect? What was incorrect?
“I don’t want to get into a back and forth on that. There is a lot of incorrect information, and I don't feel like any comments that I make will be fairly represented.”
If there’s so much that was incorrect, why didn’t you return our calls before the story ran?
“Because our president was speaking for the university.”
I would note that Baker is the head of a governor-appointed board at a public university, and that the president works for the board. If anyone could have clarified any inaccuracies or mischaracterizations, it was Baker.
Instead, he left Postel to take — or deny — the fall, and we’re back where we began, with the president saying one thing, his athletic constituency believing another, and trust eroding.
Will no one at Toledo stand up?
First Published November 7, 2021, 11:45 a.m.
