Ohio State basketball: Is Chris Holtmann coaching for his job?

The Ohio State basketball team is playing their first-round game on Friday against Loyola-Chicago. Is Chris Holtmann coaching for his job in that game?

The talk about Chris Holtmann’s job security has intensified over the past month or so. Once the Ohio State basketball team started to slide, more and more people started to ask whether or not Holtmann should still be leading the team. That all leads into the game tomorrow afternoon.

If the Buckeyes don’t beat 10-seeded Loyola-Chicago tomorrow, could Holtmann be out of a job? His record in the month of March is not good and neither is his success in the NCAA Tournament. Many people have pointed to his top 5 recruiting class coming in next season as to why he should stay.

His recruiting hasn’t been a problem since he’s led the Ohio State program. What has been a problem is his results when it really matters. Holtmann hasn’t won a Big Ten title or a postseason Big Ten title yet. Neither of those things are necessarily negatives, but adding to the lack of success in March Madness is a problem.

There’s no reason why this Ohio State basketball team shouldn’t have been at least a 4 or 5-seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. They only slid to a 7 because they lost to terrible teams at the end of the season like Nebraska, Maryland, and Penn State.

Do I think Holtmann loses his job if he loses on Friday? No. Should he? I think he should. He won’t because Gene Smith will give him at least one more year to see what he does with that recruiting class next season. The problem is that I think it might already be too late.

Unless Holtmann can make the Sweet 16 this year, I think he needs to go. I know I’m not eh only one who thinks that, but I’m not the one making the decisions.