The Ohio State Buckeyes have gotten off to a disappointing start to this NCAA season. Although they are 14-11 overall, they’ve struggled in Big 10 Conference play, managing only a 4-10 record. As a result, Ohio State made the decision to fire longtime head coach Chris Holtmann. The firing came after the Buckeyes most recent loss to Wisconsin. This week, Buckeyes athletic director Gene Smith spoke about how tough the decision to fire Holtmann was as per Patrick Murphy of Bucknuts.
”It was hard,” Smith said. “Shoot, it was really hard. When you have good people and you care about people, it was hard. If you don’t have a good person and you don’t really care about the person, it’s easier. When you care about someone like I do, it’s hard.”
Smith went on to say that he had to separate his personal feelings and do what was best for the program. Chris Holtmann had been the head coach at Ohio State since the 2017-18 season before he was fired. During that time frame, he amassed a record of 137-85.
Holtmann had led the Buckeyes to the NCAA Tournament in four of the six previous years he had been head coach. The NCAA Tournament was canceled during the 2019-20 season due to COVID-19 or it likely would have been five of six seasons. They did not make the tournament last year.
Holtmann began his coaching career at Gardner-Webb in 2010. He coached there for three seasons before departing for Butler. He originally joined Butler as an assistant coach but was promoted to interim following Brandon Miller’s medical leave of absence. He coached at Butler for three season before coming to Ohio State.
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