The Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team is 14-11 this season, including 4-10 in conference play — and with that, they've decided to part ways with head coach Chris Holtmann.
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Ohio State Men’s Basketball Coach Chris Holtmann has been fired pic.twitter.com/5hfSorjXeP
— Barstool Ohio State (@BarstoolOSU) February 14, 2024
Holtmann, who's been with the program for the last seven seasons, went to the NCAA Tournament in his first four seasons. He was also poised to make a fifth tournament if not for it being canceled. Still, Ohio State never made it past the Round of 32.
Chris Holtmann is out at Ohio State, sources told ESPN. Was nearing the end of his seventh season in Columbus. Went to four NCAA tournaments, but went 5-15 in Big Ten play last season and the Buckeyes are 4-10 in league play this season. Haven’t won a road game since Jan. 2023.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 14, 2024
"Chris Holtmann is out at Ohio State, sources told ESPN," Jeff Borzello of ESPN reported Wednesday. "Was nearing the end of his seventh season in Columbus. Went to four NCAA tournaments, but went 5-15 in Big Ten play last season and the Buckeyes are 4-10 in league play this season. Haven't won a road game since Jan. 2023."
Pete Thamel, also of ESPN, reported that the program still owes Holtmann $14 million.
Per his contract, Ohio State owes Holtmann nearly $14 million. https://t.co/fenx9S98tZ
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 14, 2024
Before this season, Holtmann held an overall record of 123-73 with the team. But in the current season, they're just three games over .500 at this point.
Following the Buckeyes' big win over Maryland on Feb. 10, Holtmann spoke about the importance of a victory like that.
"I love some of what we've had from our guys that we've talked about that are kind of the foundational pieces of our team and our program," Holtmann said. "A guy like Bruce [Thornton], in terms of how he's led in practice the past couple of days, but Roddy [Gayle's] ability to impact the game in a different way, even a guy like Dale [Bonner] who's in his first year but his mindset has been so good in terms of helping this group both in practice and in games, even though he's a quieter guy. Evan [Mahaffey], Felix [Okpara], we've had a lot of guys who have had the right approach.
"And, as a coach, you're just glad that they finally found the reward of a win."
Ohio State was Holtmann's third stop as a head coach.
He began his coaching career in 1998 as an assistant at Geneva College.
The rest of his career until this point includes the following:
- 1999-2003: Taylor (assistant)
- 2003-2008: Gardner-Webb (assistant)
- 2008-2010: Ohio (assistant)
- 2010-2013: Gardner-Webb (head coach)
- 2013-2014: Butler (assistant)
- 2014-2017: Butler (head coach)
- 2017-2024: Ohio State (head coach)
Throughout his career as a head coach, he's 247-166 across all three programs, 7-7 in the NCAA Tournament and 0-1 in the CIT (CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament).
He also earned the John McLendon National Coach of the Year award in 2017, the Jim Phelan Award in 2018, the Big South Coach of the Year in 2013, the Big East Coach of the Year in 2017, and the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2018.
Now, we wait to see where Holtmann lands next.
