Chris Holtmann, one of the new guys, introduced himself Monday. He wore a sharp silvery-gray twill suit paired with a scarlet-and-gray-stripped tie. He looked the part of a powerbroker: The new head basketball coach at Ohio State.
And then he declared that he, Chris Holtmann, a coach with 1,108 fewer college wins than Tom Izzo and John Beilein combined, will lockdown the state of Ohio from neighboring marauders. Holtmann said Ohio State will "close the borders and dominate the state of Ohio in recruiting."
This was a coach planting his flag. Holtmann was pried away from Butler with an eight-year contract worth roughly $25 million to resuscitate Ohio State hoops.