NCAA Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Chris Beard as Texas HC

Chris Holtmann

Texas will cast a wide net, likely looking at a number of current power conference head coaches, and there are several in the coming slides on this piece. Holtmann poses an interesting case, with him doing decent work at Ohio State but getting significant resources and a change of scenery if he went to Austin.

Holtmann’s head coaching career got going at Gardner-Webb, doing solid work with the Runnin’ Bulldogs before a tremendous three-year stint at Butler, winning a handful of Tournament games after taking over after a tumultuous season. Since 2017, he’s been the head coach at Ohio State and has led the Buckeyes to the Big Dance each season, winning at least 20 games in each of those first five seasons. Unfortunately, he’s yet to take Ohio State beyond the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Are things getting stale in Columbus for Holtmann? He has no direct connections to the school, and leaving for Texas would certainly be a step up and not a step-down. While Holtmann’s job is not in jeopardy at all, maybe this is the kind of move to rejuvenate things. You can’t be disappointed with the job he’s done at his first three head coaching jobs, and he has major conference experience in two big leagues already.