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Chris Holtmann posts video from crowd at Taylor Swift concert

On3 imageby:Andrew Graham08/10/23

AndrewEdGraham

NCAA Basketball: Wisconsin at Ohio State
(Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports)

Ohio State men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann might’ve won dad of the week on Wednesday. He took his daughter, Nora Jane, to see Taylor Swift perform at SoFi Stadium as part of her ongoing tour.

While Holtmann probably wouldn’t have ended up at the concert on his lonesome, he seemed to really enjoy the vibes. And his daughter was certainly enraptured.

He shared a brief video from the show and a pic of himself and Nora Jane at the show.

“Amazing energy, amazing night last night in SoFi,” Holtmann said.

Holtmann might not be a full-fledged member of the Swifties, but if some Swift songs end up on the Ohio State practice mixtape or warm up music, we might just know the root of it all.

And taking his daughter to go see one of the hottest tickets in the United States right now certainly moves him up the dad leaderboards.

When he’s not at the Eras Tour, Holtmann has been working on getting his roster set for the upcoming season

During the 2022 NBA DraftMalaki Branham became the first Ohio State draft pick since 2018. He was a one-and-done player after an impressive freshman season with the Buckeyes, winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and Ohio State had another one-and-done go in the first round in the 2023 NBA Draft in Brice Sensabaugh.

Both players starred as freshmen for Holtmann and the Buckeyes. But the plan wasn’t always for them to go to the NBA after one year in Columbus, though. It’s all part of the reality of the college basketball landscape, between the transfer portal and players declaring for the NBA Draft.

Those aspects also make roster construction hard on a year-to-year basis, Holtmann said on SiriusXM College earlier in the summer.

“I think if you talk to most coaches, they’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going to start over every year with between six to 10 players, and we’re going to have to form an identity and a team culture every year,’” Holtmann told Matt Schick and Anthony Herron. “And the more I talk to, you know, the traditional teams that used to maybe bring in just two or three recruits a year, and they would have eight or nine players returning. Even those programs are having massive turnover.

“So, I think it is the biggest challenge — roster construction. Figuring out a way to allow your young players to grow, but still go out and recruit a transfer portal [addition] and be an impact player when it comes to that and yet, help your young kids grow and develop and find that balance, if I’m making sense. It is, it’s the greatest challenge.”