Wasn't Holtmann starting to skip postgame pressers? Try firing him for cause, let that attempt ultimately fail, but point made. You know the phrase "don't let the door hit you on the way out?" In this case make it nasty - absolutely let the door hit Holtmann on the way out.
LOL that seems harsh
I completely agree with
@MaximumSam here. I've wanted to get rid of Holtmann for insufficient on-court performance for literally years but by all accounts he is a good guy, hasn't had off-court scandals, etc. This isn't a case of hating Holtmann. It is simply a case of his teams not winning enough games so he had to go.
I watched Titus' podcast last night and he expressed that he REALLY liked Holtmann as an individual but his on-court performance had become indefensible (Max would have eventually gotten there, I think). Titus said that wherever Holtmann lands, Titus will root for that program. Unlike Titus, I don't know him personally so I'm not that far in, but I have nothing against the guy personally, he just wasn't the right coach for Ohio State.
The only guy in this whole saga that I'm actually mad at is Gene Smith. I quoted Smith from his press conference where he answered a question about what the standard is for Ohio State Basketball by saying:
"...Be in the hunt, periodically win the Championship, and go deep into the postseason and that hasn't changed. That hasn't been accomplished and we need to do better. . . ."
That statement got my ire up a little bit because by that Standard from Gene Smith's own words, Holtmann was a failure two years ago so why did Smith give him a raise and an extension that saddled Ohio State with this $14M buyout?
I thought he should have been let go after the 2022 season. Here were his seasons to that point (chronologically):
- 2018: 25-9/15-3, tied for 2nd/3rd in B1G, one game out of B1G Title, #5 seed in NCAA, 1-1.
- 2019: 20-15/8-12, tied for 8th/9th in B1G, 8 games out of B1G Title, #11 seed in NCAA, 1-1.
- 2020: 21-10/11-9, tied for 5th/6th/7th/8th in B1G, 3 games out of B1G Title, no NCAA
- 2021: 21-10/12-8, 5th in B1G, 3.5 games out of B1G Title, #2 seed in NCAA, 0-1.
- 2022: 20-12/12-8, tied for 4th/5th/6th in B1G, 3 games out of B1G Title, #7 seed in NCAA, 1-1.
That clearly fails by Smith's own standard (which is almost exactly how I view it). He was only "in the hunt" once and that was in year #1 with Matta's guys. He hadn't won a title and he hadn't gotten out of the first weekend of the NCAA. I can totally understand not firing him because those results aren't bad, they just aren't good enough but if you choose to give him more time, you do so with the existing contract or extend him (may be necessary for recruiting purposes) but you extend him with NO raise and NO increase in buyout. Then if he excels in 2022/23 and 2023/24 you think about a raise. If he doesn't, you are able to jettison him more cheaply.
As a fan, I felt that the extension in 2022 was a slap in the face. I saw it as the Athletic Director telling the fans that he didn't care about BB and that the standard was something MUCH less that what Smith (correctly IMHO) stated yesterday. If we are giving a guy a raise and an extension for Holtmann's first five years then the standard is "Don't be awful, make the tournament". The standard, is, was, and always should have been "Be in the hunt, periodically win the Championship, and go deep in the postseason" as Smith stated yesterday so the mistake here was Smith's back in 2022.
