Chris Holtmann (ex-tOSU Bball coach, HC at DePaul)

[Mike80]

Ohio State basketball has won 60% of its games over 120 years. Holtmann wins 65% of his games.

The sooner folks stop looking at Matta's magical 6 year run as the norm - which even he couldn't maintain - the better. Those five-star Duke recruits aren't coming to Ohio State to play in a half empty arena while folks wait for the Spring Game, no matter who is our coach.

You can also thank Thad's predecessors - Jim "probation" O'Brien, Randy "what the hell happened to our basketball program" Ayers, and Gary "how soon can I leave" Williams for making Holtmann's ho-hum win 20+ games, go to the Dance, and not embarrass the University performance so attractive to his bosses.

I love it - all the crying over a contract that literally is a drop in the bucket for a money machine like Ohio State is...

People think the ultimate unicorn in Matta is repeatable. It's just not. That may have been the absolute apex of Ohio State basketball too.

 

[jwinslow]

…queue the “we’re a football school” arguments.

I'm curious what percentage of buckeye nation watched more than 3 basketball games before March.
A better question would be how many are haunted by the losses.

It’s like you expect a university with our brand and budget to perform better than it’s historical norm in the second most popular college sport. Tread lightly, bud.

Expect and want are where people keep jumping the shark.

 

[NorthCoastKid]

Speaking of shitty, here you are...again...

Man, that dude is an absolute fucking idiot.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

Holt is going to have 2 first round draft picks this year.

He is bringing in a great class (proof of his skills)

He’s been Conf Coach of the Year in 3 different conferences. Think about that.

He has clearly had some bad luck (One of his best teams didn’t get to make a playoff run due to COVID, injuries last year to key guys, etc)

As mentioned, you can’t continue to recruit well without the clear support from your AD and the extension shows that. And, that doesn’t stop him from being fired down the road if he doesn’t perform.

I personally think the extension is brilliant. Show you support the guy while also putting a little pressure on him to live up to it. And you know privately Gene has told him he needs to improve and Holt himself has admitted it.

Clearly, the next 2 years will be the real tell. Why not give him what he needs to perform under the ideal circumstances?

Nobody is arguing that his results are good enough. But they also aren’t bad enough to let him walk. So what do you do? Give him an extension and show you support him and watch closely for signs of progress or stagnation.

Brilliant move by Gene. (The same AD who didn’t conduct a wide coaching search because he knew Day was the man…….and that wasn’t easy at the time)

 

[Bestbuck36]

Jake's on fire.

Just sit back and listen.

 

[Jake]

Gene Smith is a shitty AD and should’ve been fired a decade ago.

When you look at the entirety of OSU's athletic performance during his tenure your comment is laughable, with a notable exception.

Greg Beals was a lame hire from day one. That he's still employed by tOSU a decade later makes me wonder what he has on Smith.

 

[cdiddy70]

The other notable exception was a fireable offense.

His “take the bowl ban next year” and play in a meaningless bowl game this year boner in 2011 was colossally stupid.

It almost cost us Urban Meyer and did cost a spot in the national title game.

 

[Hetuck]

When you look at the entirety of OSU's athletic performance during his tenure your comment is laughable, with a notable exception.

Greg Beals was a lame hire from day one. That he's still employed by tOSU a decade later makes me wonder what he has on Smith.

Bullshit. He’s Dave Brandon but with a winning football program.

The Ohio State Athletic Director cost the Ohio State football program a national championship. Let that sink in. Andy Geiger was the best AD since Lynn St. John. Gene Smith is no Andy Geiger. All he had to do was steer the ship and he hasn’t done a very good job of it. And it’s no coincidence that nobody from ASU, where he oversaw a situation where a football player murdered a teammate, was sorry to see him go. And no other big time program has ever tried to hire him away. I tried paying compliments on Texas boards when they were looking for a new AD but to no avail.

Anyone would’ve hired Urban Meyer. And Urban Meyer hired Ryan Day. Gene Smith’s bungling of both the matters surrounding Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer were an embarrassment. I could go on at length. He deserves credit for hiring a wrestling coach. Whoopee! That’s where it’s at.

The firing of the baseball coach exposes that that was a bad hire. He waited too long to fire Matta. And we don’t know if Holtmann is going to work out but, even if he does, then we got lucky because Indiana didn’t hire him first. Remember when Gene raised the price of spring game tickets from $5 to $20? Remember when he was okay with OSU and Michigan being in separate divisions? Remember when he was okay with a corporate sponsorship of THE GAME?!?! (Fortunately that school up north put the kibosh on that.)

Gene Smith SUCKS!! WAKE UP!! He’s a corporatist whore. Just because he wears an OSU logo on his shirt doesn’t make him great.

Oh yeah, he also thinks that if an expanded playoff means playing first round games at home fields, he’d rather play them in the dome in Indy rather than at the ‘Shoe.

Fucking jackass (him, not you). Any other AD would’ve self-imposed a postseason ban in 2011. Then undefeated OSU would’ve been eligible to face Notre Fucking Dame in the BCS championship game after the 2012 season. And Gene had been on the NCAA sanctions committee so he KNEW what the penalties were for players trading memorabilia for cash and tattoos. And then he tried to peddle some bullshit that A) he didn’t think it would happen, the B) that the penalties would’ve been worse if they had self-imposed a postseason ban in 2011. (Show me one instance in the history of the NCAA where self-imposing penalties gets you a harsher punishment than doing nothing at all. I dare you.) And he had that fucking idiot E. Gordon Gee on his side. Popular but incompetent and no use when it came to OSU’s academic profile. (WVU is welcome to him. If they’re ever looking for a new AD, I’ll give them a recommendation.)

 

[Mike80]

Bullshit. He’s Dave Brandon but with a winning football program.

The Ohio State Athletic Director cost the Ohio State football program a national championship. Let that sink in. Andy Geiger was the best AD since Lynn St. John. Gene Smith is no Andy Geiger. All he had to do was steer the ship and he hasn’t done a very good job of it. And it’s no coincidence that nobody from ASU, where he oversaw a situation where a football player murdered a teammate, was sorry to see him go. And no other big time program has ever tried to hire him away. I tried paying compliments on Texas boards when they were looking for a new AD but to no avail.

Anyone would’ve hired Urban Meyer. And Urban Meyer hired Ryan Day. Gene Smith’s bungling of both the matters surrounding Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer were an embarrassment. I could go on at length. He deserves credit for hiring a wrestling coach. Whoopee! That’s where it’s at.

The firing of the baseball coach exposes that that was a bad hire. He waited too long to fire Matta. And we don’t know if Holtmann is going to work out but, even if he does, then we got lucky because Indiana didn’t hire him first. Remember when Gene raised the price of spring game tickets from $5 to $20? Remember when he was okay with OSU and Michigan being in separate divisions? Remember when he was okay with a corporate sponsorship of THE GAME?!?! (Fortunately that school up north put the kibosh on that.)

Gene Smith SUCKS!! WAKE UP!! He’s a corporatist whore. Just because he wears an OSU logo on his shirt doesn’t make him great.

Oh yeah, he also thinks that if an expanded playoff means playing first round games at home fields, he’d rather play them in the dome in Indy rather than at the ‘Shoe.

Fucking jackass (him, not you). Any other AD would’ve self-imposed a postseason ban in 2011. Then undefeated OSU would’ve been eligible to face Notre Fucking Dame in the BCS championship game after the 2012 season. And Gene had been on the NCAA sanctions committee so he KNEW what the penalties were for players trading memorabilia for cash and tattoos. And then he tried to peddle some bullshit that A) he didn’t think it would happen, the B) that the penalties would’ve been worse if they had self-imposed a postseason ban in 2011. (Show me one instance in the history of the NCAA where self-imposing penalties gets you a harsher punishment than doing nothing at all. I dare you.) And he had that fucking idiot E. Gordon Gee on his side. Popular but incompetent and no use when it came to OSU’s academic profile. (WVU is welcome to him. If they’re ever looking for a new AD, I’ll give them a recommendation.)

 

[Jake]

Bullshit. He’s Dave Brandon but with a winning football program.

The Ohio State Athletic Director cost the Ohio State football program a national championship. Let that sink in. Andy Geiger was the best AD since Lynn St. John. Gene Smith is no Andy Geiger. All he had to do was steer the ship and he hasn’t done a very good job of it. And it’s no coincidence that nobody from ASU, where he oversaw a situation where a football player murdered a teammate, was sorry to see him go. And no other big time program has ever tried to hire him away. I tried paying compliments on Texas boards when they were looking for a new AD but to no avail.

Anyone would’ve hired Urban Meyer. And Urban Meyer hired Ryan Day. Gene Smith’s bungling of both the matters surrounding Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer were an embarrassment. I could go on at length. He deserves credit for hiring a wrestling coach. Whoopee! That’s where it’s at.

The firing of the baseball coach exposes that that was a bad hire. He waited too long to fire Matta. And we don’t know if Holtmann is going to work out but, even if he does, then we got lucky because Indiana didn’t hire him first. Remember when Gene raised the price of spring game tickets from $5 to $20? Remember when he was okay with OSU and Michigan being in separate divisions? Remember when he was okay with a corporate sponsorship of THE GAME?!?! (Fortunately that school up north put the kibosh on that.)

Gene Smith SUCKS!! WAKE UP!! He’s a corporatist whore. Just because he wears an OSU logo on his shirt doesn’t make him great.

Oh yeah, he also thinks that if an expanded playoff means playing first round games at home fields, he’d rather play them in the dome in Indy rather than at the ‘Shoe.

Fucking jackass (him, not you). Any other AD would’ve self-imposed a postseason ban in 2011. Then undefeated OSU would’ve been eligible to face Notre Fucking Dame in the BCS championship game after the 2012 season. And Gene had been on the NCAA sanctions committee so he KNEW what the penalties were for players trading memorabilia for cash and tattoos. And then he tried to peddle some bullshit that A) he didn’t think it would happen, the B) that the penalties would’ve been worse if they had self-imposed a postseason ban in 2011. (Show me one instance in the history of the NCAA where self-imposing penalties gets you a harsher punishment than doing nothing at all. I dare you.) And he had that fucking idiot E. Gordon Gee on his side. Popular but incompetent and no use when it came to OSU’s academic profile. (WVU is welcome to him. If they’re ever looking for a new AD, I’ll give them a recommendation.)

Much like when it comes to Holtmann, you're looking at Smith's performance like a fan. The Board of Trustees isn't a bunch of fans getting mad about not winning enough "natties". While on-field performance is part of the equation, projecting a positive image of the University and not embarrassing it matters. It also doesn't hurt when the Athletic Department is bringing in cash while winning championships in multiple sports.

No one said Smith was "great" and I don't need a screaming fan to tell me to "WAKE UP". You need to look at these University positions from a broader perspective, and understand the people who hire them, and stop looking at the Buckeyes through a sports fan's eyes. I'd go so far as to say GROW UP. Sports are part of a much larger entity - the University - and the people who run them are hired and fired with that in mind.

 

[NorthCoastKid]

No one said Smith was "great"

Oh, I'll absolutely step up and say that. Guy is one of, if not the, best ADs in big time intercollegiate athletics. Every major executive in this world has their missteps. Smith hits a hell of a lot more than he misses though.

 

[AKAK]

Please read this thread now. Its important.

 

[Jake]

Oh, I'll absolutely step up and say that. Guy is one of, if not the, best ADs in big time intercollegiate athletics. Every major executive in this world has their missteps. Smith hits a hell of a lot more than he misses though.

I'm fine with Smith and Holtmann, but the fan boys demand better. Funnier still, they think they deserve better. As if it's an entitlement, or something.

 

[buckeyeintn]

I'm fine with Smith and Holtmann, but the fan boys demand better. Funnier still, they think they deserve better. As if it's an entitlement, or something.

Aren't we all entitled to more money, fewer working hours (or no working hours), more paid time off, a bigger house, national championships every year, and a nicer car? I DEMAND all these things.

 

[Hetuck]

Much like when it comes to Holtmann, you're looking at Smith's performance like a fan. The Board of Trustees isn't a bunch of fans getting mad about not winning enough "natties". While on-field performance is part of the equation, projecting a positive image of the University and not embarrassing it matters. It also doesn't hurt when the Athletic Department is bringing in cash while winning championships in multiple sports.

No one said Smith was "great" and I don't need a screaming fan to tell me to "WAKE UP". You need to look at these University positions from a broader perspective, and understand the people who hire them, and stop looking at the Buckeyes through a sports fan's eyes. I'd go so far as to say GROW UP. Sports are part of a much larger entity - the University - and the people who run them are hired and fired with that in mind.

Bullshit. I’m looking at him as any competent employer would.

Which sport is the most important athletic program at Ohio State? What is the most important goal of that program? Why should the AD in charge not be punished for impeding the success of the most important program under his charge? Come on, man. It’s not complicated.

Defenders of Smith are the ones behaving like fans, blinded by the OSU logo on his shirt. He sucks. Again, no one at ASU was sorry to see him go in the wake of a murder scandal in their football program, and no other program has ever even hinted at trying to hire him away from OSU. It’s not a coincidence.