After 13 years of the Thad Matta era in Columbus, the Ohio State men’s basketball team was handed over to a young Chris Holtmann in 2017. He didn’t have anything approaching a full offseason to prepare his new team, but the Buckeyes went 25-9 and made it back to the NCAA Tournament.
Now in his second year, Holtmann has fully invested in bringing the basketball program back to the forefront of students’ and fans’ minds, in what had become a solely football-focused group over the past few years. He’s signed an eight-year deal with Ohio State, but if his first season in Columbus was any indication, it’s a good thing that OSU locked him up longterm.