Ohio State basketball: Chris Holtmann gets contract extension

Gene Smith must not have high expectations for the Ohio State basketball program. I say that because Chris Holtmann, who has yet to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since he’s been with the Buckeyes, just got a contract extension.

Holtmann’s extension is for three years and is worth $3.5 million per year. That’s a raise of about $500k from last season. This means Holtmann will get at least eight years with the Ohio State basketball program unless he is terminated from his contract early.

I gotta say, I don’t understand it. Holtmann should be on the hot seat this year after once again failing to advance in the NCAA Tournament. It seems like Smith is happy with just having a decent regular-season team without actually competing for conference or national championships.

This does give Holtmann some security heading into a year where he only has two guys coming back who played real minutes last season. He’s going to have an extremely young roster, for the most part, so he’ll get time to develop the young kids now.

I really wish that Smith would have waited until after this next season to make a decision on Holtmann’s future. Keeping Holtmann right now just signals to Ohio State basketball fans that he thinks it’s a second-rate sport behind football. Ohio State will always be a football school, but the basketball program should still have expectations too.

Personally, I think this is a terrible move. Why give Holtmann something if he hasn’t earned it yet? If he went out and won a Big Ten Championship or made the Sweet 16 this year, then fine. Give him the extension. But why give it to him before he’s proven he can win anything?

This basketball season became a lot less interesting with this contract extension signed.