Chris Holtmann (ex-tOSU Bball coach, HC at DePaul)

[DZ83CK]

It would be one thing if any of the transfers were remotely close to NBA prospects. But he seems focused on just filling positions with warm bodies that are average or even below average college players. That has to stop being the routine.

 

[Mike80]

You keep focusing on the tournament, while blatantly ignoring that CH also has failed to win either the B1G regular season or tournament, and he's been here 5 years now. And the closest he came to that regular season title was with Matta recruits leading the team. I'm not saying fire him, but he needs to approach next season like he needs to earn his salary by achieving something more than the average (for OSU) seasons he has been turning out every year with his players. The continual focus on getting 2-3 transfers every year is stupid and holds the program back over time because he's building high floor, medium ceiling teams instead of trying to put together a real national contender by getting more young prospects who are going to blossom over the course of years. I'm not saying avoid transfers altogether, but he needs to rely less on transfers, and do a better job in finding more guys who have high ceilings and not just opt for the easy plug and play low-hanging fruit.

You keep focusing on the tournament, while blatantly ignoring the point he and I have made since you started this nonsense.

 

[Jake]

You keep focusing on the tournament, while blatantly ignoring that CH also has failed to win either the B1G regular season or tournament, and he's been here 5 years now. And the closest he came to that regular season title was with Matta recruits leading the team. I'm not saying fire him, but he needs to approach next season like he needs to earn his salary by achieving something more than the average (for OSU) seasons he has been turning out every year with his players. The continual focus on getting 2-3 transfers every year is stupid and holds the program back over time because he's building high floor, medium ceiling teams instead of trying to put together a real national contender by getting more young prospects who are going to blossom over the course of years. I'm not saying avoid transfers altogether, but he needs to rely less on transfers, and do a better job in finding more guys who have high ceilings and not just opt for the easy plug and play low-hanging fruit.

I'm focusing on what the adults who run the University and Athletic Department focus on. You're looking at everything like a fan, which is fine as long as you stop projecting that view on Gene Smith and convince yourself Holtmann's job is hanging by a thread because it's been five whole years and no B1G titles.

It'd be one thing if the Bucks were losing 20 games a year and missing the postseason. Not to mention, he's never been caught groping young women in a bar, he hasn't had wins vacated for breaking NCAA rules, and he hasn't had players committing felonies - all of those things can be found looking at multiple OSU coaches just since the 90s. If you think that stuff isn't important, that's fine. I can assure you it's important to Holtmann's boss (and his boss).

If the only knocks are not enough B1G titles or tournament runs, while winning at least 20 games every year, getting to the big dance every year, and conducting himself in a manner expected of him by a proud university that gets a lot of attention, then you're going to have to get used to him.

 

[DZ83CK]

I'm focusing on what the adults who run the University and Athletic Department focus on. You're looking at everything like a fan, which is fine as long as you stop projecting that view on Gene Smith and convince yourself Holtmann's job is hanging by a thread because it's been five whole years and no B1G titles.

It'd be one thing if the Bucks were losing 20 games a year and missing the postseason. Not to mention, he's never been caught groping young women in a bar, he hasn't had wins vacated for breaking NCAA rules, and he hasn't had players committing felonies - all of those things can be found looking at multiple OSU coaches just since the 90s. If you think that stuff isn't important, that's fine. I can assure you it's important to Holtmann's boss (and his boss).

If the only knocks are not enough B1G titles or tournament runs, while winning at least 20 games every year, getting to the big dance every year, and conducting himself in a manner expected of him by a proud university that gets a lot of attention, then you're going to have to get used to him.

Winning 20 doesn't mean a whole lot when you have 15 games every year that the program should always win or the coach is getting fired for sure. You don't hang a banner for winning 20 games, period. You keep harping on that like it means something, but Matta had a far longer streak than CH had, and eventually it ended due to bad recruiting. But by all means, hand the man a trophy for not assaulting people.

 

[Jake]

Winning 20 doesn't mean a whole lot when you have 15 games every year that the program should always win or the coach is getting fired for sure. You don't hang a banner for winning 20 games, period. You keep harping on that like it means something, but Matta had a far longer streak than CH had, and eventually it ended due to bad recruiting. But by all means, hand the man a trophy for not assaulting people.

Ohio State has 8 B1G championships in the last 50 years. They had 10, but two of them were vacated (see previous post) for reasons that matter to the University.

Five of those 8 occurred in a really fun seven-year span. That was an anomaly for a school that draws 10,000 most games but 100,000 show up for Spring football.

Using that seven-year span as the measuring stick for every future tOSU coach is not realistic, and is going to cause a lot of frustration for you. Have fun with that.

 

[Mike80]

Winning 20 doesn't mean a whole lot when you have 15 games every year that the program should always win or the coach is getting fired for sure. You don't hang a banner for winning 20 games, period. You keep harping on that like it means something, but Matta had a far longer streak than CH had, and eventually it ended due to bad recruiting. But by all means, hand the man a trophy for not assaulting people.

I could totally see a nonsensical post like this show up on Volnation.

 

[BuckeyeFromHecK]

Been at the planet for a long while. Don’t comment often (for those newbs - this means I really care about something if I post). If you’re satisfied with what Holtmann has done up to this point, then you’re the same type of person who keeps their money in a bank savings account.

This is 2022. This is Ohio State. College sports are changing (have changed). I’m not calling for his firing - but we need more. You don’t keep your job in corporate America by not growing the company. This isn’t that much different.

Yes. I appreciate that he runs a (supposedly) clean program. But, when push comes to shove, with the brand we have as a university, we should expect more. We should be an Elite 8 team every 4 years. We have the resources, brand name, and urban market to do so.

If he does not make it to the Elite 8 in the next two years, we need to look elsewhere.

 

[Jake]

Been at the planet for a long while. Don’t comment often (for those newbs - this means I really care about something if I post). If you’re satisfied with what Holtmann has done up to this point, then you’re the same type of person who keeps their money in a bank savings account.

It's not a question of being satisfied. It's about having realistic expectations for a basketball program playing in the shadow of a football powerhouse.

This really shouldn't be hard to understand, but apparently it is for some people. The best basketball players go where basketball is king. Go figure.

Look at other football powerhouse schools and get back to me on their basketball prowess. Alabama, Georgia, Clemson - what do you see? I'll wait.

 

[OUatl]

Been at the planet for a long while. Don’t comment often (for those newbs - this means I really care about something if I post). If you’re satisfied with what Holtmann has done up to this point, then you’re the same type of person who keeps their money in a bank savings account.

This is 2022. This is Ohio State. College sports are changing (have changed). I’m not calling for his firing - but we need more. You don’t keep your job in corporate America by not growing the company. This isn’t that much different.

Yes. I appreciate that he runs a (supposedly) clean program. But, when push comes to shove, with the brand we have as a university, we should expect more. We should be an Elite 8 team every 4 years. We have the resources, brand name, and urban market to do so.

If he does not make it to the Elite 8 in the next two years, we need to look elsewhere.

He also has zero championships in his ENTIRE coaching career! Zero zip nada!

 

[BuckeyeFromHecK]

It's not a question of being satisfied. It's about having realistic expectations for a basketball program playing in the shadow of a football powerhouse.

This really shouldn't be hard to understand, but apparently it is for some folks. Go figure. The best basketball players go where basketball is king.

Look at other football powerhouse schools and get back to me on their basketball prowess. Alabama, Georgia, Clemson - what do you see? I'll wait.

The fact that you think we, as a university, should be limited to success in football, is the problem. We’re a better overall university (subjectively and objectively) than any of the schools you mentioned. All of those schools are in the middle of nowhere. Ohio State is in a city that is absolutely thriving.

Thank gosh you aren’t running our athletic department.

 

[Jake]

The fact that you think we, as a university, should be limited to success in football, is the problem. We’re a better overall university (subjectively and objectively) than any of the schools you mentioned. All of those schools are in the middle of nowhere. Ohio State is in a city that is absolutely thriving.

Thank gosh you aren’t running our athletic department.

What I have to say, as an aging alumnus who doesn't converse with Gene Smith, has fuck all to do with anything.

Do yourself, and everyone here, a favor. Stick to rarely commenting. Better still, jump on another bandwagon.

 

[Mike80]

Been at the planet for a long while. Don’t comment often (for those newbs - this means I really care about something if I post). If you’re satisfied with what Holtmann has done up to this point, then you’re the same type of person who keeps their money in a bank savings account.

This is 2022. This is Ohio State. College sports are changing (have changed). I’m not calling for his firing - but we need more. You don’t keep your job in corporate America by not growing the company. This isn’t that much different.

Yes. I appreciate that he runs a (supposedly) clean program. But, when push comes to shove, with the brand we have as a university, we should expect more. We should be an Elite 8 team every 4 years. We have the resources, brand name, and urban market to do so.

If he does not make it to the Elite 8 in the next two years, we need to look elsewhere.

 

[Mike80]

The fact that you think we, as a university, should be limited to success in football, is the problem. We’re a better overall university (subjectively and objectively) than any of the schools you mentioned. All of those schools are in the middle of nowhere. Ohio State is in a city that is absolutely thriving.

Thank gosh you aren’t running our athletic department.

Thank God you're not running the department either - wishing like a fan to make whimsical things a reality.

So long as Holtmann checks all the boxes that Gene Smith puts in front of him, and he almost certainly is doing so, he'll be here. That's reality.

There are about 300 other D-1 basketball programs that would kill for a coach who can win 66% of his games and be in the tournament every year. Count your blessings.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

It's not a question of being satisfied. It's about having realistic expectations for a basketball program playing in the shadow of a football powerhouse.

This really shouldn't be hard to understand, but apparently it is for some people. The best basketball players go where basketball is king. Go figure.

Look at other football powerhouse schools and get back to me on their basketball prowess. Alabama, Georgia, Clemson - what do you see? I'll wait.

To Jake’s point, look at which hoops teams have won a Natty in the last 20 or so years and FLA is the only program who has somewhat recently been an elite or somewhat elite football program. Literally every other program isn’t elite in football. Sparty is decent and Kentucky is getting better but even they aren’t tOSU. Literally every other team who has a hoops Natty is awful at football if they even have a program. What does that tell you?

Also, is it fair to blame the coach entirely when the fans don’t even show up for home games when the team is top 20 caliber? Everyone wants the hoops program to be better but ignoring these things is just ridiculous.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

Here is another thing, how do you recruit a better coach if you run one off that checks all the boxes like others have described?

In the modern era, can a school be excellent in both sports? Yes I believe so, but running off a coach like Holt isn’t close to the best strategy to get there. And the fact that this discussion is happening at exactly the time he’s bringing in a top 5 class is laughable. Be patient. And have a plan. That’s what it takes. And, if the fans aren’t even going to show up for games then they can have a nice hot cup of shut the fuck up.