What makes Ohio State athletics really, really good (particularly men's basketball and football), isn't that the Buckeyes enjoy the services of the best athletes in the United States or the incredible facilities. I mean, those help, a lot, but all the players and locker room hot tubs in the world doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot if you don't have coaches who can take those elements and turn them into championships.
"Continuity" is the word I'm looking for here; to be able to go from Tressel to Urban and Matta to Holtmann was a multi-decade stroke of revenue-sport genius and some luck.