Ohio State fires basketball head coach Chris Holtmann

by: Whitney Harding, Orri Benatar

Posted: Feb 15, 2024 / 12:12 AM EST

Updated: Feb 15, 2024 / 12:12 AM EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio State Buckeyes have parted ways with head basketball coach Chris Holtmann in the middle of his seventh season.

The Buckeyes announced that athletic director Gene Smith has terminated Holtmann's contract after OSU suffered a 62-54 loss Tuesday to No. 20 Wisconsin, continuing a streak of no road wins for over a year. Holtmann had four years remaining on his contract and has a buyout of $12.8 million.

During an afternoon press conference, when describing having decided to fire Holtmann, Smith got emotional, taking a beat to collect himself before saying, "It's really hard. When you have good people and you care about people, it's hard. If you don't have a good person and you don't care about the person, it's easier, but when you care about someone like I do, it makes it hard."

Holtmann finishes his career with the Buckeyes with a 137-85 record. His Big Ten record with the Buckeyes was 67-64. His departure makes him the shortest-tenured OSU men's basketball coach since Gary Williams, who coached the Buckeyes for three seasons from 1986 to 1989.

Ohio State confirmed that Jake Diebler will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season. Incoming athletic director Ross Bjork, who steps into the role on July 1 when Smith retires, will now search for the Buckeyes' 16th head coach in program history. During the press conference, Smith said he would help Bjork with finding Holtmann's replacement.

Holtmann arrived at Ohio State in 2017 to replace Thad Matta. After his first season with Ohio State, he earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors leading the Buckeyes to a 25-9 record and a second-place finish in the conference; however, the Buckeyes lost to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA tournament. That was the beginning of postseason frustrations for Holtmann and OSU.

The Buckeyes posted 20-win seasons in each of his first five years with the program and made the NCAA tournament. Still, the Buckeyes never made it past the Round of 32 with Holtmann at the helm.

His sixth and seventh seasons with Ohio State saw a downturn in results. In 2022-23, the Buckeyes started strong, but had a brutal finish going 7-16 from Jan. 1 to Mar. 11. That did include a run to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament; but; also included a 9-game losing streak. OSU missed the NCAA tournament that year, marking the first time they missed the tournament since 2016-17.

This season, the Buckeyes again showed some promise early including a win over at the time No. 17 Alabama on Nov. 24. Once again, Big Ten play saw struggles return with OSU having a 4-10 conference record at the time of Holtmann's departure, leaving them 13th in the conference standings.

Ohio State men's basketball has not made the March Madness regional finals since 2012-13 and has not made the Final Four in over a decade. The Buckeyes' next game is Sunday afternoon in Columbus against No. 2 Purdue.

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