I would assume that Bjork and Smith talk about what they want to happen and make decisions like that collaboratively.
This I agree with.
Smith has vocally been very supportive of Holtmann and I can only assume is saying that to Bjork right now.
I agree that Smith has been supportive publicly but that is utterly meaningless to me. AD's are typically publicly supportive right up until the moment of termination. I think it just comes with the territory.
You can say the season is lost, but in reality it isn't - if they go on a winning streak and make the tourney I doubt they will fire the coach.
This is just silly and/or delusional.
First, the Buckeyes have no plausible chance of contending for the league title because they already have five losses and the league Champion is typically better than 15-5. Thus, even if this crappy team suddenly becomes not just competent nor even good nor even great nor even elite but so phenomenally spectacular that they win out including:
- A home win over #10 Illinois
- A win over #13 Wisconsin in the Kohl Center
- A home win over #2 Purdue
- A win over Izzo's Spartans in the Breslin Center in late February
- Wins in all of their other eight remaining games.
Even if they do all of that, they'll still end up a few games out of first place, they might not even get s double-bye!
This season is absolutely lost in terms of contending for the league title.
Second, don't forget that the eight games the Buckeyes have played are dramatically easier than the 12 they have left so it would take a monumental improvement to go .500 the rest of the way and that would only get them to 19-12/9-11 heading into the Target Center. They'd be on the bubble but even with a good run in Minneapolis they would still wind up with a weak seed where game #1 is a challenge and NCAA Tournament game #2 is a nearly impossible challenge against one of the top teams in the nation.
This season is absolutely lost in terms of accomplishing anything that would wake ⏰️ up the potential CBB attendees in Columbus.
If they don't make the tourney, I don't have a feeling one way or another.
Seriously?
You are ok with our alma mater paying $10M a year to a guy for results they could get for half that from any random halfway competent coach?
The difference between this and Matta is that Matta was losing with veteran teams and the program was a mess. This team isn't veteran and the program isn't a mess, so the vibe is different.
On this my view could not be more different than yours. Here you are, once again, referencing the allegedly "young team". I couldn't care less. As
@betarhoalphadelta and I have said repeatedly, Holtmann is not a new coach and he isn't in rebuilding mode coming off of a great season. He is in year seven, he has NEVER had a great season, and last year was historically bad.
The relevant difference isn't the age of the teams. The relevant difference is that Matta had a history of success as a BB coach and Holtmann has a history of mediocrity as a BB coach.
If you keep a previously successful coach like Matta there is a chance that he *MIGHT* return to his previous greatness. If you keep a previously mediocre (at best) coach like Holtmann, the more-or-less best-case-scenario is that he'll return to his previous mediocrity.
