Ohio State Basketball: Chris Holtmann and Buckeyes are due for big 2019-20
A look at Chris Holtmann’s coaching career, it is clear there is something special about the number three. Why that’s good news for Ohio State Basketball this upcoming season.
More often than not, when a coaching change is made it is, at least in some part due to a lack of success. When the new hire is someone from outside of the program, it usually takes a year or two (sometimes longer) for the new staff to put their imprint on the program. This is true of Ohio State Basketball head coach Chris Holtmann, the Buckeye head man graduated from Taylor University (of Silent Night fame) in 1994.
He was a graduate assistant in 1997 and returned as an assistant in 1999, after a one-year stay at Geneva College in Ohio as an assistant. Holtmann would then spend the next 12 years as an assistant at Taylor, Gardner-Webb, and Ohio before getting his first head job at Gardner-Webb for the 2010-11 season.
This is where Holtmann must’ve realized that the number three, was either his favorite or his luckiest because ever since becoming a head coach, the number has become a theme in his career thus far. Much like an episode of Sesame Street, Holtmann’s head-coaching career could be brought to you by the number three.
Gardner-Webb 2010-2013
He was the head coach at Gardner-Webb for three seasons, from 2010-2013. In his first season running the Bulldogs won 11 games, but eight of the team’s 21 losses came by three points or less, and three times they fell by exactly three points. In his second season, the team won just 12 games and for the second straight year had just three players make at least 100 field goals for a team that averaged 65 points per game.
Then came Holtmann’s third and final year in Boiling Springs, his team would win 21 games, finishing second in the Big South Southern Division, and earn the school’s first post-season berth, a trip to the CIT. That team had won eight in a row and 11 of 12 entering the Big South semifinals against Liberty. They would fall by, you guessed it, three points, to a team they had defeated exactly a month earlier, by three points. Holtmann would parlay that success into his next head coaching job, at Butler.
Butler 2014-2017
Holtmann began his career at Butler as an assistant under coach Brandon Miller, but when Miller took a leave of absence prior to the 2014 season, Holtmann was named the interim head coach, a tag that was later removed. Holtmann spent three seasons at the helm of his second Bulldogs’ program from 2014-2017. In his first year, the team went 23-11, finishing 2nd in the Big East earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament, on the back of three double-digit scorers Kellen Dunham, Roosevelt Jones, and Andrew Chrabascz.
They would defeat Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament but would fall to Notre Dame in overtime of the second round, by three points. After a successful second season where Butler won 22 games and earned another trip and win in the NCAA Tournament, Holtmann and the Bulldogs entered his third season in 2016-17 with higher expectations. He lived up to those expectations, leading the team to its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, this time reaching the Sweet Sixteen before falling to No. 1 seed North Carolina.
Butler finished that season with 25 wins and again, three double-digit scorers, their regular season consisted of five winning streaks of three games or more. After the 2017 season, Holtmann would return to the state of Ohio to take over for Thad Matta at Ohio State.
Ohio State 2018-Present
In his first season in Columbus, Holtmann finished second in the Big Ten, made the second round of the NCAA Tournament and went 25-9, going 15-3 in conference. Before the Big Dance, the season ended on a bit of a sour note, falling to Penn State in their first game of the conference tournament. It was the third loss to the Nittany Lions on the season, with the first ending Ohio State’s nine-game conference winning streak, the final score, 82-79.
Last season was a bit tougher with the Buckeyes going just 20-14, but despite an eighth-place finish in the Big Ten, they earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament, upsetting No. 6 Iowa State in the first round, by three points. In their second game, they were knocked off by Houston, ending their season, the Cougars were the No. 3 seed.
dark. Next. Potentially influential 2019 recruiting classes
Entering his third season, if the third season at his last two stops is any indication, this could be the best year yet for the Buckeyes under Holtmann, and a big reason why would be the Big Ten’s top and 12th ranked recruiting class according to 247sports. Why is the class ranked so highly? It should come as no surprise that Holtmann’s incoming class has multiple four-star recruits, three to be exact, how fitting for Holtmann.