NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2014 season

5. Chris Holtmann (Butler)

It’s really for anybody to replace a coaching legend, even if that coach only stays for a few seasons. Brad Stevens did such amazing things for this Butler program that it was certainly disappointing watching how quickly successor Brandon Miller faltered. His one season had been under .500, a grave departure from Stevens’ reign of success. Fortunately, Butler had their next quality head coach already on staff.

Chris Holtmann played basketball at Taylor and was briefly a teammate of former Illinois head coach John Groce. He’d serve on Groce’s staff at Ohio before his first head coaching venture at Gardner-Webb. He built solid improvement with the Runnin’ Bulldogs across three seasons, winning 21 games in his final season. Holtmann then joined Miller’s staff as an assistant, spending just a single season before being promoted to head coach.

Three successful years followed for the Bulldogs who immediately got back on track, competing in the Big East. In each of Holtmann’s three years, the Bulldogs won at least 22 games, finished top 4 in the Big East and made the NCAA Tournament. In addition to a Sweet Sixteen in 2017, Holtmann actually won at least one game in each of those three Tourney appearances. That success led him to Ohio State’s head coaching job, while Butler has been in another downturn since Holtmann’s departure.