Details of Gene Smith's consulting role with Maryland Athletics released

Ahmed Ghafir
Jul 29
2 min read

News broke ahead of Big Ten Media Day that former Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith would head to Maryland as a consultant on a six-month contract. While the addition reunites the pair of longtime Buckeye administrators, it also involves the search firm that helped land Jim Smith in College Park.

Sportico reported on Tuesday morning that Gene Smith’s consulting contract flows through TurnkeyZRG with Maryland paying TurnkeyZRG $10,000 per month. The services expected from Gene Smith, whose own consulting firm is subcontracted to deliver services in the contract, include “a two-day, on-campus meeting with 'key stakeholders' and a pair of monthly, 45-minute Zoom sessions.”

New Maryland athletic director Jim Smith, who officially took over two weeks ago today, told Sportico that the consulting decision “was done entirely at the behest of the school president”. Smith also serves on the board of directors at Under Armour despite being a longtime administrator at a Nike school.

“That was really President [Darryll] Pines providing a resource to me,” Jim Smith said. “I think that was something that they were considering prior to whoever they were going to hire [as an athletic director], that they were going to offer them an opportunity to work with [someone who is] really a legend in the collegiate sports world.”

Smith is expected to remain with the athletic department through 2025 as he became the latest addition to revamp the athletic department, joining recent hires Diana Sabau and Joe LaBue. Sabau officially began her role on July 28 with LaBue set to officially take assume his new role on Friday, August 1.

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