Ohio State Basketball: Who wants to coach the Buckeyes?
Does anybody want to be the Ohio State basketball coach?
When Thad Matta was relieved of his duties as the Ohio State basketball coach, some were of the mindset that coaches from around the country would line up for the job. This was a big time job that would be highly coveted by many, and athletic director Gene Smith would certainly find the guy he wanted.
The position would be filled by a coach with a proven track record at a smaller school, or one of the hot young coaches in the country. Or possibly even a professional coach may want to come back to the college ranks and lead the Buckeyes. So far most of those types of guys don’t seem interested at all.
One of the hottest prospects, Xavier head coach Chris Mack, has apparently taken himself out of consideration for the Ohio State job. He is moving into a house in Northern Kentucky and expressed his love for Xavier. You can check out what he had to say on twitter.
The man who most recently decided his current position was a better situation than coaching the Buckeyes was Creighton head coach Greg McDermott. Today he took to twitter saying he wasn’t interested in the Ohio State coaching job and would stay at Creighton.
Coach McDermott was a guy many Buckeye fans were hoping would get the job. He has coached teams that have made the NCAA Tournament a total of eight times at two different universities, three for Northern Iowa and five at Creighton.
McDermott has also won 445 games as a head coach and I’m sure Gene Smith wanted him in a big way. So now what?
It has been reported that Smith is looking to the professional ranks to find the next Buckeye head coach. Those who have been rumored to be targets are Billy Donavon (Oklahoma City Thunder), Fred Hoiberg (Chicago Bulls) and Mike Brown (Golden State Warriors). Wanna talk about throwing “Hail Marys”.
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It’s a simple fact that the Ohio State basketball head coaching position isn’t an attractive job for those who have other options. An up and coming coach obviously wants to move up to a bigger job, but he can wait another year to try to find the right opportunity.
He will too, because he realizes his next job can become a career maker, or career breaker. The situation at Ohio State may appear to be the latter for most coaches at the moment.
Eight players have left the Ohio State basketball program in the last two years, and two of the three 2018 recruits decommitted since the season ended. Then the new coach will take over the program in June instead of April, and he gets to follow the most successful coach in the program’s history. Wouldn’t that make you think twice about taking the job?
It seemed like everybody was quick to put out their list of candidates who might become the next Ohio State head coach when Thad Matta was let go. I declined to do so because I wondered who would even want the job at this time.
I hope I’m wrong and Gene Smith knocks one out of the park with a big time hire. But I’m not holding my breath waiting on that to happen, because I’m not so sure how many proven coaches would even want the job right now.