Chris Holtmann hired as next DePaul head coach
COLUMBUS — Chris Holtmann was fired from Ohio State one month ago Thursday.
Just one month later, he has landed another head coaching gig.
Holtmann has accepted the DePaul head coaching job, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. DePaul fired former head coach Tony Stubblefield on Jan. 22 and wrapped up an abysmal 3-29 season in which the Blue Demons lost their final 20 games of the season and finished 0-20 in Big East play.
Holtmann is taking over a massive rebuild on the north side of Chicago. He’ll be back in the Big East, where he was the head coach at Butler for three seasons before landing the Ohio State job.
Holtmann was fired on Feb. 14 in his seventh season at Ohio State — after the Buckeyes tied a program record with 16 consecutive losses in “true” road games the night before. That loss extended the Ohio State road losing woes to 409 days, dating back to New Year’s Day last year.
Ohio State owed Holtmann a $12.8 million buyout, paying out the remainder of his contract that was extended two offseasons ago by athletic director Gene Smith.
The Buckeyes started the season 12-2 and were in the receiving votes section of the AP Poll. After that hot start, however, they lost 9 of their next 11 games between Jan. 6 and Feb. 13.
Ohio State won its first game after Holtmann was fired, upsetting No. 1 Purdue at home in Jake Diebler’s first game as interim head coach. Diebler led the Buckeyes to a 5-1 record, including two road wins over Michigan State and Rutgers.
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Holtmann was 26-30 in January after taking over for Thad Matta as head coach in 2017-18. Take away Holtmann’s first year on the job, and his January record plummets to 18-29.What he did, or didn’t do, in March was a blemish on his Buckeyes resume, too.
While Holtmann led Ohio State to the NCAA Tournament the four years it was played from 2018-22, his Buckeyes teams never made it past the Round of 32. In other words, Holtmann never made the Sweet Sixteen at Ohio State after Matta coached the program to five Sweet Sixteens during his 13-year run.
So with a less-than-stellar March track record and a slip-sliding Buckeyes team this season, Holtmann was let go by outgoing athletic director Gene Smith in February, and Ohio State has yet to find Holtmann’s replacement.
But after just one month away from a head coaching role, Holtmann is taking over at his next stop. He is being hired as the next head coach at DePaul.
