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The first major domino of what is expected to be a busy coaching carousel in men’s college basketball fell this week.
And that was Ohio State that pushed him down. the horse chestnuts Fired coach Chris Holtmann Wednesday in the midst of his seventh season on the show. He marked a relatively abrupt end to a disappointing tenure that once held so much promise for both the coach and the program.
When Ohio State parted ways with Thad Matta, the winningest coach in program history, in June 2017, He turned to Holtmann. to try to rectify whatever the program had lost in the final years of Matta’s decorated 13-year tenure.
REQUIRED READING:Ohio State fires coach Chris Holtmann after seven seasons
At the time he was coming off an excellent career at Butler, where he successfully led the program in its first few years in the Big East, winning 70 games in three seasons and leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament each year he was there. His run culminated with a Sweet 16 appearance in 2017.
However, seven years later, Holtmann is gone and the Buckeyes are again searching for a coach who can once again make the program a consistent threat for Big Ten championships and the Final Four.
Why did Ohio State and outgoing athletic director Gene Smith decide to move on from Holtmann? Here’s what you need to know about Holtmann’s time with the Buckeyes:
REQUIRED READING:Ohio State men’s basketball ‘nationally irrelevant’: Reactions to Chris Holtmann firing
Statement from the State of Ohio on the Firing of Chris Holtmann
Shortly after news of Holtmann’s firing at Ohio State, Smith issued a statement via press release commenting on the “leadership change”:
“I want to express my gratitude to Chris for the first-class program and the highly respected program he has led here at Ohio State,” Smith said. “He and his wife, Lori, are wonderful people. I thank each of them for their seven years here in Columbus and wish them the best.”
Ohio State announced that associate head coach Jake Diebler will serve as interim coach for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. The release also states that incoming athletic director Ross Bjork will lead the search for Holtmann’s full-time replacement beginning at the end of the season. Bjork will take over on July 1, but will begin March 1 in an interim role.
Chris Holtmann’s record
During his nearly seven full seasons with the Buckeyes, Holtmann’s teams went 137-86 (61.4%). He has the second-highest winning percentage of an Ohio State men’s basketball coach in the last 45 years, trailing only Matta. But the trajectory of that tenure provides a clearer picture of why he was fired.
The Buckeyes won 20 games in each of Holtmann’s first five seasons and reached the NCAA Tournament each year the event was held. He won 25 games in his first season, an improvement of eight wins over Matta’s last team. In its fourth season, Ohio State earned a second seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, its best finish in eight years, but once there, it was stunned in the first round by 15th-seeded Oral Roberts.
That loss embodied the biggest struggles of Holtmann’s teams in the NCAA Tournament: Although the Buckeyes consistently made the 68-team field, they never advanced beyond the second round. By contrast, they reached at least the Sweet 16 five times under Matta, including Final Four appearances in 2007 and 2012.
In the final years of his time in Columbus, Holtmann’s teams didn’t even make the tournament. Ohio State finished 16-19 in 2022-23, its first losing season since 2003-04. After Tuesday night’s loss to Wisconsin, his current team was 14-11, giving it a 30-30 mark since the start of the 2022-23 season. With a 4-10 record in conference play this season, the Buckeyes are second-to-last in the Big Ten, ahead of only languishing rival Michigan.
Although his overall record was impressive, Holtmann was just 67-65 in Big Ten play. Even in some of his best years, his teams had a habit of stumbling down the stretch, losing four of their last seven in 2017-18, eight of their last 12 in 2018-19, six of their last nine in 2020. -21 and five of his last seven in 2021-22.
The search and subsequent hiring will be a first opportunity for incoming athletic director Ross Bjork, who will not officially assume that role until July 1, but will begin March 1 as a senior advisor to the athletic director.
Here is Holtmann’s year-over-year record with the Buckeyes:
- 2017-18: 25-9 (15-3 Big Ten)
- 2018-19: 20-15 (8-12)
- 2019-20: 21-10 (11-9)
- 2020-21: 21-10 (12-8)
- 2021-22: 20-12 (12-8)
- 2022-23: 16-19 (5-15)
- 2023-24: 14-11 (4-10)
REQUIRED READING:Oller: Ohio State fires Chris Holtmann; What should fans expect from his replacement?
Chris Holtmann termination, salary
According USA TODAY Coaching Salary DatabaseHoltmann earned $3.5 million last season. That mark ranked him 24th among Division I public schools and seventh in the Big Ten, behind Tom Izzo of Michigan State, Brad Underwood of Illinois, Kevin Willard of Maryland, Greg Gard of Wisconsin, Juwan Howard of Michigan and Matt Painter of Purdue.
Ohio State announced that with his dismissal, Holtmann is you are owed a purchase of 12.8 million dollars.
How good is Ohio State’s basketball job?
Although popularly known as a football school, Ohio State has a proud men’s basketball history and has shown a willingness to invest in the program.
The Buckeyes have 11 Final Fours, the sixth most of any Division I program, putting them ahead of teams like Indiana, Louisville, Syracuse and UConn. Since 1960, they have won at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship 14 times. And, most notably, they have a national championship, which they won in 1960 with a loaded roster led by Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek.
According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, Ohio State spent $11.9 million on its men’s basketball program, a budget that ranks fifth among the 14 current members of the Big Ten, just by behind Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois and Maryland.
For certain coaches, passion for the Buckeyes football program is a good thing, not because it overshadows the men’s basketball team, but because passion for Ohio State football means that being the Buckeyes men’s basketball coach doesn’t It carries the kind of overwhelming pressure felt by many of college basketball’s preeminent powers.
Ohio State is one of two major conference programs that currently have a coaching vacancy, with DePaul being the other. However, several others are expected to open, or could open, a list of potential competitors that includes Michigan, Louisville, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Stanford and Washington.
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