College coaches weigh in on the Ohio State job

On February 16 Ohio State and Chris Holtmann parted ways. This made for the second P6 head coach fired this season, joining DePaul and Tony Stubblefield. Bob Huggins resigned from West Virginia prior to the start of the season.

Ohio State named assistant Jake Diebler the interim head coach. Since the move, the Buckeyes have won two of three games with the wins coming over Michigan State and Purdue.

There is history in Columbus, and with this recent run from Diebler, I was curious just how good of a job Ohio State is.

I reached out to more than two dozen college coaches, across the high-major basketball landscape to discuss the perception of this opportunity. Generally speaking, coaches feel like this is one of the better jobs in college basketball and the administration should be able to reach for the stars for their next hire. 

“There is nothing in the way of them being a top two or three school every year in the Big 10 and fighting for a conference championship every year,” one Big 12 coach told me. “They should have realistic expectations of a Final Four run every five years.”

There were some drawbacks too, most of which surrounded football.

Let’s go through some of the conversations I had with high-major college coaches regarding Ohio State.

The resources are elite and the brand is national

When talking about job opportunities, one of the first things that most coaches bring up is the program’s resources. That is a subject that many of the coaches that I spoke with had glowing things to say about their perception of Ohio State. 

“That is an upper-tier job in the Big 10 that comes with a big-time fan base and financial support,” an ACC coach said. A coach in the Big 12 took it one step further, “They are easily the best job in the Big 10, and they have terrific resources.”

“They have a strong operating budget and a good fan base with a strong tradition. That would be attractive to anyone,” a coach in the Big East said.

Many times resources can help build the program’s branding. But few schools carry the same cache across college athletics that the Ohio State athletic brand has.

“Ohio State is a great opportunity for a coach to be successful,” an ACC coach told me. “They have great resources in place and it is a recognizable, national brand,” 

“They have a recognizable national brand,” an SEC coach added. “Athletics at Ohio State are well-resourced, and you want that.”

The Buckeyes also have a basketball tradition. They played their first season in 1898. In their 126 years of playing, they have won 1,765 games with a 60.7 win percentage.

“That’s a really good job,” a Big 10 coach said. “Thad Matta had it rolling there. They have good resources and facilities.”

Matta coached the Buckeyes from 2004-05 to 2016-17 when he won 337 games at a 73.3 percent clip. He made nine NCAA Tournaments, five Sweet Sixteens, and two Final Four appearances.

“They have NIL money which is the most attractive quality in a job. They have been to two Final Fours in the last 20 years and they are dying to win again there,” an SEC coach said

The natural recruiting base is fertile

Ohio State is the flagship university for the state. And a look through the program’s history they have been at their best when the school’s best players were from Ohio and its surrounding states. 

“They have a fertile in-state ground to recruit from,” a Big 12 coach said. “Programs in the surrounding areas seem comfortable sending Ohio State their best players.”

Looking ahead, the general perception is that the talent pipeline in Ohio is not slowing down.

“The 2025 class in Ohio is as good as any class they’ve had in the past 10 years,” an ACC coach told me.

“There are plenty of good players in the region to draw from,” an ACC coach said. Another Big 12 coach told me, “They are in an elite Location with a good recruiting base.”

The current Ohio State roster is also not void of talent. Their last two high school recruiting classes have been among the top ten of the On3 Team Industry Recruiting Ranking.

“The coach coming in has pieces to build around on the current roster,” a Big 12 coach said.

“Basketball is a clear No. 2 behind football,” an ACC coach said. “They Might not have the biggest basketball name to get the top recruits in the country, but they’re in a great region, and they have a huge BRAND name in a great league.”

But, Ohio State is a football school

Every coach I talked with brought up the Buckeye football program. Some, like the Big 12 coach above, simply acknowledged the basketball program’s spot in the athletic pecking order. However, many of the coaches I spoke with had thoughts about what that could mean for the next head men’s basketball coach.

“They are a football-first school,” an SEC coach told me. An ACC coach added, “The primary focus there is football, which can be challenging for the basketball program.”

Another SEC coach expanded on that thought a little, “It’s a football school, which could make it tough to succeed in basketball. A lot of the resources could get allocated away from basketball. That is really the only negative.”

“Ohio State’s NIL for basketball sounds surprisingly low,” a Big East coach said. “Football schools can be tricky because they can dissolve resources pretty quickly.”

Even with the talk of Ohio State’s resources and football, the connection was not negative by all coaches. 

“At the end of the day they are a football school, so there will not be the same level of pressure to win,” a coach in the Pac 12 said.

A coach in the Big 12 had similar thoughts, “The school wants to win, but they are not ridiculous about expectations.”

So who is the right candidate for the Ohio State job?

“An experienced head coach will be needed to not only recruit in that league but battle the strong group of head coaches in the Big 10,” an ACC coach said.

Most of the coaches I spoke with thought that Ohio State would be able to go out and hand-select their next head coach.

“They need to go get a sitting high major head coach. With that, you can almost hand-pick your coach,” an ACC coach said. He then added, “Someone like Greg McDermott or Sean Miller would make sense.”

“They will be able to go out and get just about anyone they want,” a coach in the Pac 12 said. “But it needs to be someone with a good reputation similar to Holtmann when he came into Ohio State.”

Some of the common themes with the coaches I spoke to were that Ohio State needed some form of a sitting high major head coach.

“They need to go after a sitting P5 coach who has won at a school with a basketball brand.” a Big 12 coach said. 

Another Big 12 coach added, “They need to hire someone that is a true CEO, someone who is capable of running a true Fortune 500 company. It would be tough for a mid-major coach.”

A coach in the ACC thought along a similar line, “They need to get an experienced head coach who can manage top talent and can really game plan.”

Experience was a common theme among the coaches I spoke with. But they also added Ohio State’s next coach needs to be able to manage a program, game plan, and recruit the area.