Big Ten Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches in 2023 offseason

By Joey Loose | Apr 17, 2023

Feb 16, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter fist bumps Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo after the game at Mackey Arena. The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Michigan State Spartans 75 to 65. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

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Big Ten Basketball Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Chris Holtmann Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports /

9. Chris Holtmann – Ohio State

It’s been quite the rise for Holtmann, who was a college basketball player at Taylor University just three decades ago and started his coaching career in the lower levels of the sport. He had several assistant coaching positions before Gardner-Webb got his head coaching career started in 2010. After three seasons there, he’d join the Butler staff and was promoted to head coach just one season later. Across the next three seasons, Holtmann won 70 games at Butler, leading them to NCAA Tournament appearances and wins in each of those seasons.

Ohio State brought him aboard in 2017 to replace the retiring Thad Matta and Holtmann’s work with the school has been decent at best. Holtmann led Ohio State to 20-win seasons in each of his first five campaigns, including four straight NCAA Tournaments. However, he’s never advanced beyond the opening weekend of the Big Dance, and this past season was a dismal 16-19 mark, with the Buckeyes finishing 13th place in the conference.

Six seasons without at least a Sweet Sixteen is certainly disappointing to Ohio State fans who saw Matta take this program to a pair of Final Four trips over a decade ago. The Buckeyes have recently been knocking on the door for that success, but this past season was just a failure all around. Holtmann has a solid resume, but this was clearly the worst season he’s experienced in at least a decade and needs to turn things around.

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