After leading Ohio State to the brink of a Big Ten title, Chris Holtmann has been named a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award.
Holtmann came to Ohio State in early June following the firing of longtime head coach Thad Matta, and inherited a roster that had won just 17 games in 2016-17 and would be without arguably its best player in Trevor Thompson, who left early for the professional ranks.
All Holtmann has done since is piece together a roster – consisting of a Michigan graduate transfer (Andrew Dakich) and a high schooler (Musa Jallow) – that has Ohio State just one game back of Michigan State for a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
| NAME | SCHOOL | CONFERENCE |
|---|---|---|
| Rich Barnes | Tennessee | SEC |
| Chris Beard | Texas Tech | Big 12 |
| Tony Bennett | Virginia | ACC |
| Brad Brownell | Clemson | ACC |
| Mick Cronin | Cincinnati | AAC |
| Chris Holtmann | Ohio State | Big 10 |
| Chris Mack | Xavier | Big East |
| Matt Painter | Purdue | Big 10 |
| Bruce Pearl | Auburn | SEC |
| Jay Wright | Villanova | Big East |
The former Butler head coach has led the Buckeyes to a 23-7, 14-3 record with one regular season game to play, despite Ohio State being picked to finish outside the top-10 in the conference before the season began. Holtmann has also led his team into the top-10 nationally this season, as the Buckeyes soared to No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll following victories over Purdue and Iowa before falling back to No. 16 after back-to-back losses to Penn State and Michigan.
During Ohio State's Senior Day ceremonies, following a 79-52 win over Rutgers on Tuesday, Holtmann openly endorsed redshirt junior forward Keita Bates-Diop for Big Ten Player of the Year, in front of the remaining fans at Value City Arena. Once handed the microphone, Bates-Diop, who was named to the late season watch list for the Naismith Player of the Year award, returned the favor.
"He had a tough job coming in. We had a bad season last year, a bunch of guys had left, and he believed in our small group of guys that we could do something special this year," Bates-Diop said. "You say I'm the player of the year, you are the coach of the year in my opinion."
Addressing the media Thursday, Holtmann said Bates-Diop's words were "special."
"That's a special comment that a young man makes. He is a special kid," Holtmann said. "He was probably just trying to make me feel good, but that was nice of him."
