Chris Holtmann said he planned to work quickly when it came to hiring a coaching staff.
“We’re going to build an incredible staff, I can promise you that,” Holtmann said Monday at his introductory news conference. “I’m extremely excited about that. That will take place here in the coming days to weeks. It’s going to happen quickly."
“There are some wheels in motion on some of that but there’s nothing I can speak to as of right now specifically.”
With the news late Monday night Butler already found Holtmann's replacement in LaVall Jordan, it seems like only a formality before Holtmann's staff at Ohio State is in place.
After Holtmann was officially announced as Buckeyes head coach last Friday, the Indianapolis Star reported all three of Holtmann's assistants last season at Butler were offered spots on his new staff in Columbus and were expected to join should they not become the next Butler head coach.
It was reported Sunday that Mike Schrage, who spent just one year with Holtmann at Butler, would join the staff at Ohio State. Schrage was at Holtmann's introductory press conference Monday and his Twitter bio has been changed to read "The Ohio State University Assistant Basketball Coach."
No official announcement has been made yet regarding Schrage, but it's possible Ohio State is waiting to announce all three hires at the same time.
Ryan Pedon and Terry Johnson, Butler's two other assistant coaches last season, reportedly interviewed to be Holtmann's replacement as the Butler head man, according to IndyStar. With the hiring of Jordan, however, the next move could be to Columbus for both Pedon and Johnson.
Scout.com's Brian Snow reported Monday night Pedon would join Holtmann's staff at Ohio State.
With LaVall Jordan all but official to Butler, Ryan Pedon (Columbus native) will join Chris Holtmann at Ohio State
— Brian Snow (@BSnowScout) June 12, 2017
Prior to his one season at Butler, Schrage was an assistant coach at Stanford from 2008–16. Before that, he was the director of basketball operations and recruiting coordinator at Duke. Schrage has 18 total years of coaching experience at those three stops.
The hiring of Pedon would be especially big in the recruiting world. He is a Columbus native who played collegiately at Wooster. Pedon spent the last two seasons at Butler, but prior to his stint with the Bulldogs, he was an assistant at Illinois, Toledo and Miami (Ohio).
Pedon played a big part in helping Butler land its highest-rated recruiting class ever in 2017. A big part of that, Ohio native and top-100 prospect Kyle Young, could potentially come with the Butler staff to Ohio State as Young originally chose the Bulldogs over the Buckeyes.
Johnson has been at Butler since the 2007 season. In his 10 seasons as a Bulldogs assistant, Butler is 250-97. He also spent two years as an assistant at IPFW.
Interestingly enough, Johnson's Twitter bio was also updated to read "Ohio State Basketball Assistant Coach."
