The Ohio State basketball team doesn't owe Chris Holtmann as much for his buyout

The Ohio State basketball team fired Chris Holtmann during the middle of the season last year. Gene Smith finally made the decision on Valentine's Day to let him go. It was time to have a new voice in the program after the juice had been sucked out of it. It was time for a change.

What made things so different was the fact that the Buckeyes had just signed Holtmann to an extension two years prior. Smith gave him more money when he really didn't need to. After that extension, Holtmann didn't have a winning record either season.

Ross Bjork picked Jake Diebler to be his replacement in the interim. Diebler did enough at the end of the year to warrant keeping the job in the long term. Holtmann now has a new job coaching DePaul. Because of that job, Ohio State now owes him less for his buyout than previously thought.

The Ohio State basketball team owes Chris Holtmann less money for his buyout

Holtmann was initially owed close to $15 million for his buyout because of that new extension. Now because of Holtmann's contract with DePaul, Ohio State will only have to pay him $9 million. That's still a lot of money, but it's a lot less than what they were going to have to pay him.

Diebler is the face of a new Ohio State basketball program. He has a revamped roster with a team that is hungry to get back to what this program used to be. They are ready to not just make the NCAA Tournament again, but actually make a run at a Final Four.

They may not have the talent to do that yet, but that's Diebler's goal. He wants to get to that point. The program clearly wasn't getting there under Holtmann. Now, Smith's mistake is lessened thanks to his new contract with the Blue Devils.