With the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team amid a second consecutive down year, the school decided to take drastic action — firing head coach Chris Holtmann.
Holtmann’s first season with the Buckeyes came in 2017-18 and he led the Buckeyes to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first five years (OSU would’ve been in during the COVID-shortened year), though the team never made it past the Second Round. 2022-23 was a down season for OSU as the team finished 16-19 (5-15 in Big Ten play). The Buckeyes appeared to put last season’s issues behind them — starting 12-2 to begin the current campaign — but have since lost nine of 11 Big Ten contests
It is unusual to see a coach lose his job mid-season, but with the rise of NIL and the transfer portal, teams want to get a head-start on their coaching search so they do not fall behind when it comes to player recruitment. With a big vacancy needing to be filled, here are the three top candidates to be the next men’s basketball coach for Ohio State.
Lamont Paris
Lamont Paris paid his dues as an assistant coach, spending 20 years further down the bench before his first opportunity to lead a program. He began at the Division III level before eventually patrolling the sidelines for Akron and Wisconsin. As an assistant, Paris was a part of eight NCAA Division I Tournaments and 16 20-win squads. Now, in just his second year at South Carolina, Paris has the Gamecocks among the leaders in the SEC and ranked 11th in the latest AP Poll.
While South Carolina reached the Final Four in 2017, historically, the program has experienced little success. The 2017 run is the only time in the last 50 years that the Gamecocks advanced past the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, and they have just 12 20-win seasons during that span. Paris has SC at 21-4, and the team is poised to wear home jerseys in March. This is even more impressive considering that this South Carolina squad won 11 games a year ago.
Lamont Paris has proven he can rebuild programs, and that is what Ohio State currently needs.
Dusty May
Though his head coaching career has been short, it is hard to argue with what Dusty May has done over the last two years at Florida Atlantic. Last season was the unexpected Final Four run for an Owls squad that entered the NCAA Tournament with a 31-3 record. This year, not only was May able to retain every transfer from that upset-minded team, but he has FAU playing at the same high level. The Owls have stayed ranked in the AP Poll every week this season and boast wins over Arizona, Butler, and Texas A&M.
Before last season, Florida Atlantic had just one NCAA Tournament appearance and one 20-win season in 29 years of existence. If Dusty May can engineer that kind of turnaround at one of the most dormant programs in the country, imagine what he can build with the resources available to him at Ohio State.
Greg McDermott
It would take a lot to pry Greg McDermott away from Creighton. But if there ever was a year, this might be it. The Bluejays are once again an NCAA Tournament lock this season, but next year the team is looking at a reset as it loses its core three in Ryan Kalkbrenner, Baylor Scheierman, and Steven Ashworth. McDermott helped continue Creighton’s legacy as a Missouri Valley powerhouse before helping engineer the school’s profitable move to the Big East.
This is Greg McDermott’s 14th season in Omaha, and while he might consider spending the rest of his coaching career at Creighton, this is a logical time for him to weigh his other options. Ohio State is an attractive option and the Buckeyes should make a strong push to bring in one of the best coaches in the country.
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