Lol what generation would that be?
Well,
@betarhoalphadelta covered this pretty well, this team clearly is generationally bad.
Hard to say it is worse than Jim O'Brien's last two years, which were both bad and landed OSU on probation and with a postseason ban.
But to be as bad, he'd have to commit some egregious NCAA violations on the way out.
Here you are conflating two separate issues.
Look, nobody here wants to become Auburn or Michigan. Rule breaking here is a firing offense, not something to be celebrated.
I appreciate that Holtmann appears to be a fine human and hasn't gotten us in any hot water with the NCAA. AFAIK, he is a great guy. That said, he isn't getting $4.5M just to be a good guy and not break any major NCAA rules. You or I could do that and I don't know your financial situation but I'd be happy to do it for 1/4 of the money.
Holtmann is being paid to win BB games and he is generationally bad at it. Even just looking at single seasons, Ohio State finished second-to-last in the B1G last year. The last time they were that bad was ~30 years ago at the end of Randy Ayers' tenure. Randy Ayers was given an opportunity to turn things around because he had two S16's, two league titles, and an E8 to his credit. Holtmann has none of those things.
Prior to the mid 90's, the last time tOSU was this bad was twice in the mid 1970's in Fred Taylor's last and Eldon Miller's first year. Miller went on to make two S16's. Taylor was an absolute legend at tOSU with:
- Seven league titles
- Five E8's
- Four F4's
- Three NCG appearances
- One NC
Prior to the mid 70's, the last time tOSU was this bad was in the 1950's under Floyd Stahl. His teams finished last or second to last in the league in 1951 and 1955.
Prior to that it was the season during which
the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor. That was under coach Harold Olsen who also had five league titles, four F4's, and an NCG appearance. Near as I can tell, Olsen was the most feast-or-famine coach in the history of tOSU BB. He had the aforementioned great seasons but he also finished last or second-to-last in 1923, 1930, 1931, 1934, and 1942.
Here is the thing about Olson though:
If you look at his tenure he coached the Buckeyes for 24 seasons from 1922/23 through 1945/46. In those 24 seasons he had:
- Five league titles - average of about one every five years
- Four F4's - Average of one every six years
- Five last or second-to-last place seasons - average of about one every five years
I'd take that over Holtmann's record in a heartbeat. Holtmann is now worse on the bottom end with two last or second-to-last place seasons in seven years which is MUCH more frequent than Olson and Holtmann has no top-end to balance against that. He has zero league titles, only was even remotely close in year #1 with Matta's guys and has not advanced past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since he was coaching at Butler and lucked into a 13-12 path.
Going back 102 years to 1922/23 (Olson's first season), here are all of the Buckeyes' last or second-to-last place seasons in the league:
- 2024 - Holtmann (barring a massive turnaround)
- 2023 - Holtmann
- 2017 - Matta, his last year
- 2004 - O'Brien, his last year
- 1998 - O'Brien, his first year
- 1997 - Ayers, his last year
- 1996 - Ayers, his penultimate year
- 1995 - Ayers, his third-to-last year
- 1977 - Miller, his first year
- 1976 - Taylor, his last year
- 1955 - Stahl
- 1951 - Stahl, his first year
- 1942 - Olsen
- 1934 - Olsen
- 1931 - Olsen
- 1930 - Olsen
- 1923 - Olsen, his first year
Holtmann and Stahl are the only two guys on that list not to offset these bad years with a league title or S16.
Maybe 17 in 102 years isn't quite "generational" but doing it in back-to-back years is (see Beta's post) and in any case, you are picking nits here because:
- It is still REALLY bad, and
- With the notable exception of Floyd Stahl, all the other tOSU coaches to have teams this bad offset those bad teams with really good teams that did good things like win the league and play in meaningful NCAA Tournament games. Holtmann has no top-end to offset his bad teams.