NFF John L. Toner Award Recipients
Biography
Andy Geiger, one of college athletics most dynamic and respected leaders, is now in his ninth year as Director of Athletics at The Ohio State University. Overseeing a program that has 35 varsity sports and over 900 athletes, he has managed an annual operating budget of more than $50 million to near perfection.
Instrumental in hiring Jim Tressel as head football coach in 2000, Geiger secured one of today's best- known college coaches. In only three seasons, Geiger's choice of coaches paid off in 2002 as Tressel led the Buckeyes to an undefeated season and their first National Championship since 1970.
Maintaining the great Ohio State tradition of athletic excellence, Geiger's career as an athletics director spans a total of 33 years with stints at Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and the University of Maryland.
Upon accepting his position at Ohio State, Geiger led an ambitious campaign to update the school's aging facilities. The first facet of that drive became a reality in the spring of 1997 when the 4,300-seat Bill Davis Baseball Stadium opened its gates. The 19,100-seat Jerome Schottenstein Center, a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose facility, now in its fifth year, houses men's and women's basketball and men's ice hockey, as well as various other entertainment events. The Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, which is home to soccer, lacrosse and field hockey, was completed in 2001 as was the three-year $187 million renovation of storied Ohio Stadium, which now seats nearly 100,000 and is truly one of the most magnificent facilities in the country.
Under Geiger, Ohio State has also added three new varsity sports - women's rowing, lacrosse and ice hockey - at a time when most schools are dropping sports because of budget constraints.
Extremely active in the community and huge jazz music fan, Geiger is a member of the Columbus Jazz- Arts Board and also hosts a two-hour weekly radio show called "Classic Jazz Masters." He also serves on the Board of Directors of Easter Seals and the YMCA.
