Ohio State Gets Postseason Ban: Why Gene Smith Must Be Fired Immediately

The Columbus Dispatch broke the news this afternoon that Ohio State would indeed be banned from next year's postseason for their multiple violations of NCAA rules.

Additionally, Ohio State will lose nine scholarships total over the next three seasons and be given three years of probation, and former coach Jim Tressel will be given a show-cause penalty.

This comes weeks after athletic director Gene Smith said that not only did he believe Ohio State would not get a bowl ban, but that the school would not self-impose one.

And with this ruling should be the final straw of the utter incompetence that Smith has shown in the last 12 months of the NCAA process.

Thus, for the fact that next season is almost entirely worthless, since the Buckeyes cannot play in a bowl game pending an appeal, Smith needs to be fired.

He has made poor decision after poor decision, from delaying a response to the NCAA in order to expedite the process to not self-imposing the ban when it obviously was coming.

Smith's poor leadership style of self-reporting secondary violations instead of making sure that those simply don't happen is inexcusable, and it has bitten Ohio State badly.

And it should be the last straw that his lack of stern leadership has hurt the program. 

He should be fired as soon as possible, as the administration should feel embarrassed at his actions and lack of leadership.

This doesn't punish the people responsible for the postseason ban, namely the four seniors in Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams and Solomon Thomas, who were the ones that were chiefly responsible for the violations to begin with.

They will get to get away, while Urban Meyer's first season will last just 12 games. 

They will have no Big Ten championship game shot and no postseason, and will likely not be ranked in the polls even if they go 12-0.

That will set the program back another season because it also takes away the 15 bowl practices that a school gets in the postseason.

As Ohio State transitions away from the Tressel era, it's time to cut the cord with Gene Smith and send him out of the door.

If they don't, it shows the school simply hasn't learned its lesson. They need to start from scratch.

Follow me on Twitter @bielik_tim for the latest college football news and updates.