Ohio State President Apologizes Takes Shots at Notre Dame: 'You Just Can't Trust Those Damn Catholics'
ByOhio State president E. Gordon Gee took shots at Notre Dame and its priests in an athletics department meeting last December, saying, "you just can't trust those damn Catholics," reported The Plain Dealer.
The Associated Press acquired a recording of the December meeting with a public information request, and on the recording, Gee continued his insults towards Notre Dame.
"The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they're holy hell on the rest of the week," Gee said to the laughter meeting attendees such as athletic director Gene Smith, several other athletic department members, professors and students. "You just can't trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that."
Gee, a Mormon, also jabbed at the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
"You tell the SEC when they learn to read or write, then they can figure out what we're doing," Gee said in the meeting.
The president issued a statement to the AP Thursday, apologizing for his comments.
"The comments I made were just plain wrong, and in no way do they reflect what the university stands for," Gee said. "They were a poor attempt at humor and entirely inappropriate."
Ohio State University also commented on their loose-tongued president, calling the statements he made in the December meeting were inappropriate and stating that Gee would undergo a "remediation plan."
For many years, the Big Ten (the conference in which Ohio State plays) has tried to coax Notre Dame into joining, but the catholic school always resisted. Last September, Notre Dame announced it would join the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports except football.
This is not the first time Gee has been in trouble for public comments.
In 2011, he was asked whether or not he would fire Jim Tressel, the school's head football coach at the time.
"No, are you kidding? Let me just be very clear: I'm just hopeful the coach doesn't dismiss me," Gee said.
Tressel reportedly knew his players were trading Ohio State memorabilia for cash and tattoos, an NCAA violation, and did not report it, a violation of his contract. Later that year, Tressel stepped down.
In 2010, Gee said the other teams in the Big Ten could not so much as compete with "the Little Sisters of the Poor," an institute that cares for elderly women. He issued an apology for that comment and sent a check to the institute, followed by a visit.