Ohio State AD Gene Smith proves again he is simply the best

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith had everything under control the entire time?

With the flurry of activity and speculation concerning the Ohio State basketball head coaching position last week, it seemed as though only one person didn’t seem to be concerned about the ordeal. That was Buckeye athletic director Gene Smith, and he calmly handled the situation with a home run hire. In doing so, he again proved why he is one of the best athletic directors in the nation.

Smith has always come across as a man in control of any situation with his calm demeanor, and a guy who always has a plan. So it came as a shock to everybody when he parted ways with head coach Thad Matta last Monday. How was he going to find a suitable replacement for the winningest Ohio State basketball coach in the program’s history this late in the game?

The number of guys speculated to be candidates for the head coaching position probably exceeded the number of scholarship players allowed on the basketball team. There were rumors that Smith had reached out to college and NBA coaches gauging their interest in the job, and some of those rumors may have been true. But in the end, the Buckeye AD only interviewed three men, Chris Jent, Greg McDermott and Chris Holtmann.

I wrote that Jent may be the right man at this particular time when I found out he was in the mix. I thought he could possibly stabilize the program, especially in recruiting, and I wasn’t sure a top-notch coach at another university would want the job right now. 

I never thought McDermott was a viable candidate but you can’t blame Smith for going after him. The coach has had a ton of success during his time at Creighton but has spurned offers from major universities in the past. McDermott simply appears to be satisfied with his situation in Omaha.

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I didn’t immediately jump on the Chris Holtmann bandwagon, and took some grief for that by some. It wasn’t because I didn’t think Holtmann would be an outstanding hire, just because I was skeptical he would take the job at this time. Too many names had been thrown around who could potentially become the next Buckeye head coach, but nearly all of the candidates had already been crossed off the list.

I didn’t discount that a Butler head coach might be moving on to a bigger job because that is the norm for successful Bulldog head coaches. I was just concerned that the current state of the Ohio State basketball program, along with the timing, may be a deterrent to coach Holtmann taking the position.

But when the smoke had cleared, Gene Smith had his new head basketball coach by the end of the week. He took what appeared to be a tumultuous situation and made it a promising one in just four days.

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I think sometimes the Ohio State athletic dorector is underappreciated, but he certainly shouldn’t be. After all, during Smith’s tenure running one of the largest athletic departments in the country, the football and basketball programs have experienced a lot of success, and non revenue sports like men’s volleyball, wrestling, lacrosse etc., have as well. But now, with the way the Ohio State AD handled the Ohio State head basketball situation with his hiring of Chris Holtmann, it should make people realize why Gene Smith is one of the most respected athletic directors in the nation.