Ohio State Basketball: Coach Chris Holtmann off to a fast start
The new Ohio State basketball coach had quite a first week on the job.
You often hear it said that first impressions are lasting. If that is the case, Chris Holtmann will get the benefit of the doubt from Ohio State basketball fans for quite some time.
To say the head coach is off to a fast start would be an understatement. Just take a look at what has transpired since he was formally introduced as the new leader of the basketball program.
Press Conference:
His initial press conference received rave reviews by everyone. That’s extremely important at a major university like Ohio State, where media relations and a connection with the fans are nearly as important as the performance of your players on the basketball court.
Coach Holtmann had plenty of interesting things to say, and you can check out an article by Steve Helwagon of 247Sports to see excerpts and watch a video of the press conference. These quotes from the article jumped out at me, and I think it may be music to the ears of most Buckeye fans.
"“I have recruited Ohio for over 20 years,” Holtmann said. “It has some of the best players and coaches in the country. It will be paramount to our success. It will be an everyday focus for us.“We’re going to work extremely hard as a staff to close the doors and dominate the state of Ohio in recruiting.”"
Fans are a little tired of watching home-bred players like Trey Burke and Nigel Hayes competing against the Buckeyes instead of playing for them.
Coaching staff:
A head coach can only be effective if he has good assistants. Chris Holtmann brought his guys over from Butler, Ryan Pedon, Mike Schrage and Terry Johnson. The group led the Bulldogs to a 25-9 record last season and a “Sweet Sixteen” appearance.
Star recruiter Pedon is also a born and bred Buckeye from the Columbus area. Here is what he had to say about the situation as reported by Cleveland.com.
"“Very few times in our profession do you get to transition with a boss that you know and understand how he wants things to be done — then to have the opportunity as a complete staff,” Pedon said. “Mike, Terry and I work really well together. We take a lot of pride in that.”"
Setting the tone:
Less than one week into his tenure as the Ohio State head coach, Chris Holtmann suspended Derek Funderburk. The reason given was the redshirt freshman failed to meet team expectations. Message sent! There’s a new sheriff in town.
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Recruiting:
Coach Holtmann said he began recruiting immediately after being hired. He has already put out offers to several players in the 2018 class and beyond.
Two of those players he offered shows he is serious about putting emphasis on keeping top in-state recruits from playing elsewhere. Guard Duane Cohill and forward Jerome Hunter received confirmation that he wanted them to join Dane Goodwin in the 2018 Ohio State recruiting class.
Thad Matta had already offered scholarships to the two players, and coach Holtmann did as well when he was at Butler. Showing them a little extra love certainly didn’t hurt his chances of convincing the highly regarded recruits to stay home and play for the Buckeyes.
Bonus:
Coach Holtmann beat out Thad Matta for forward Kyle Young in this year’s recruiting class. The Mansfield Jackson standout asked for his release from his commitment to play for Butler and received it. He will now be joining the Ohio State basketball program in the near future.
Next: Latest Commitment Pushes 2018 Class to No. 1
Not a bad first week for Chris Holtmann. I wonder what we can expect from here on out.