Chris Holtmann doesn’t believe Ohio State is far away from making a run, from building something special.
It was a message reiterated when the 2021-22 season was officially complete, sitting next to E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham at PPG Paints Arena after the Buckeyes’ loss to Villanova in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, two players that would not be returning to his program for another season.
But Holtmann’s head was high. His confidence showed.
“I believe in what we're doing and I'm more than confident it's going to happen,” Holtmann said. “It's hard to win in this tournament. If you go back and look at the number of years I've been a head coach and the number of NCAA Tournament wins, it's pretty good.
“We feel good about what we're doing.”
Ohio State feels good about what Holtmann is building, granting him a three-year contract extension that will keep him with the Buckeyes through the 2027-28 season, raising his annual salary to $3.5 million per season.
Heading into the 2022-23 season, the status of Ohio State in college basketball hasn’t been higher during Holtmann’s tenure.
After leading a team that’s one at least 20 games in each of his five seasons in Columbus, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in each season it was held, the Buckeyes head coach is inheriting a top-five recruiting class in 2022 that is looking to replace the program’s likely first two first-round draft picks selected since having three in the 2007 NBA Draft.
But there is a step that Ohio State still needs to take. It’s the one that had Holtmann sitting next to both Branham and Liddell at PPG Paints Arena.
In five years with the program, the Buckeyes have never advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament, continuing the streak of no Sweet 16 appearances since the 2014-15 season under Thad Matta.
While he was confident after the Villanova loss, he was also pleading for time.
“I’m more than confident it’s going to happen,” Holtmann said, looking back at his NCAA Tournament track record at Butler: three seasons leading to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 berth in 2016-17.
And there seems to be a method to Holtmann’s gameplan, one centered around positionless basketball, basing an offense and a defense off of wing guards and forwards, players who can impact the game at all three levels.
It’s multiplicity and variety. It’s selflessness. It’s depth. It’s culture, everything Holtmann is building his team around, one he basically had to build from the ground up despite surpassing expectations in his first season with the program in 2017-18.
Holtmann has set the standard: 20 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance are the bare minimum, it seems.
Now, with a three-year contract extension and a pay bump, putting him in the range of Michigan’s Juwan Howard and Illinois’ Brad Underwood in terms of a salary, who are each under Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, Ohio State shows its confidence that something can be built from Holtmann’s regime, that while the consistency has been proven time and time again, the big accomplishments — the deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, the Big Ten championships — are coming.
Sitting at his season-ending press conference, Holtmann didn’t believe Ohio State was far from making a run, from building something special.
With the contract extension, Ohio State shows its belief too.
