Ohio State Basketball (Photo by Ohio State Athletics)
Ohio State Parts Ways with Chris Holtmann
Ohio State decided to move on from embattled head men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann on Wednesday. Ohio State is 14-11 after starting the season 12-2. The Buckeyes have had a rough January and February after a strong November and December. This trend has become a trademark of the last few years of the Chris Holtmann Era. On Valentine’s Day, Gene Smith and Ross Bjork joined with the fans in deciding they’d seen enough.
After a strong 25-9 inaugural season, the Holtmann Era got in the lower middle and stayed there until the last three seasons when it slowly slipped off the deep end. The Buckeyes are 9-25 in Big Ten Play the last two seasons, and 30-30 overall in the same time under Christ Holtmann. They haven’t won a road Big Ten game since January 1st… of 2023.
Despite the usual early season hope, another disastrous January led to the end of the line. It was time to move on. And it is in the best interests of all parties. Longtime Ohio State assistant Jake Diebler has been named the Buckeyes’ interim head coach for the remainder of this season.
Now the question on everyone’s mind is who will be the next man to lead the Buckeyes on the hardwood? Ohio State has the tall task of hiring a coach who can make the Buckeyes a consistent top-25 team. No one expects Ohio State to be Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, or North Carolina. However, there is no reason for a program with the size, resources, and strength of Ohio State to not be a top-25 team every season.
Who’s Got Next?
The athletic department opened up their pocketbooks this winter for the football team as far as NIL, recruiting, and trying to hire elite coaches. I and the rest of Buckeye Nation expect the same for Ohio State hoops. There’s already a lot of names floating around to take over to lead the basketball team. Here are just a few of them.
Lamont Paris
Lamont Paris, the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks is the name that seems to be popping up the most. Paris is in his seventh season as a head coach, the second at South Carolina where they are 21-4 on the year. Paris has ties to Ohio being from Findlay and having gone to Wooster College. His overall record as a head coach is 119-97.
Chris Mack
Chris Mack has ties across the Buckeye State. He was born in Cleveland and played and coached in Cincinnati at Xavier for years. In 13 seasons he is 278-133. He only ever missed the NCAA Tournament once in his nine seasons with Xavier. He reached the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite 8 once. The Xavier to Ohio State move has worked well for Ohio State before with Thad Matta, whom Chris Mack spent some time with at Xavier.
Anthony Grant
Anthony Grant is another coach who has seen lots of success recently and has strong ties to the state of Ohio. Grant played for the Dayton Flyers in the 80’s and was part of a Flyers team that reached the Elite Eight. He has been the head coach for Dayton since 2017. His overall record which includes seasons at Alabama and VCU is 344-177. The Flyers are currently 19-4 and having a great season. Coach Grant could very easily have a national title on his resume if not for the Covid-19 pandemic. The Flyers led by star player Obi Toppin were 29-2 and ranked #3 in the nation when the season was shut down.
Dusty May
Dusty May burst onto the national scene last year when he took his Florida Atlantic Owls to the Final Four and a 35-4 record. This year the Owls are 19-5 in Coach May’s sixth season. May is 120-65 in his coaching career. May grew up in Indiana and played for Indiana legend and Ohio State national champion Bob Knight in college and at 47 is looking like a young rising star in college coaching.
Ohio State is at a pivotal crossroads with this important hire. It will likely shape the next decade of the basketball program in the Buckeye State, and will need to be a slam dunk. Here’s to the future of Buckeye hoops!
