Most everyone appreciates a good sports rivalry, but one college president took things a little too far last year, when he called Notre Dame students “those damn Catholics” — a remark for which he’s now apologizing.
At a meeting of his school’s Athletic Council, Ohio State University’s Gordon Gee weighed in about why Notre Dame hadn’t made it into the Big Ten athletic conference. His rationale was that they couldn’t be trusted because of their religious stance, the Associated Press reported.
“The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week,” Gee joked during the Dec. 5 meeting, according to a recording obtained by the AP. “You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that.”
He also took shots at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, as well as making fun of Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany.
Gee, a Mormon, was on a previously planned vacation when the remarks surfaced, but he released an apology statement to the AP.
“The comments I made were just plain wrong, and in no way do they reflect what the university stands for,” he wrote. “They were a poor attempt at humor and entirely inappropriate. There is no excuse for this and I am deeply sorry.”
Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown also told the AP that the OSU president had apologized to Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins.
Ohio State trustees heard of Gee’s behavior in January and held meetings with him to discuss a ‘remediation plan,’ according to a statement from board president Robert Schottenstein.
“These statements were inappropriate, were not presidential in nature and do not comport with the core values of the university,” Schottenstein wrote.
Gee has been something of a gaffe-machine during his time at OSU, making off-hand remarks on several occasions that landed him in hot water. During his tenure, he’s made inappropriate remarks regarding the Jim Tressel scandal, the Little Sisters of the Poor and then-Gov. George Voinovich.
Perhaps Gee should stick to running a university and leave the jokes to the comedians.
