Chris Holtmann’s name has been floated around as a potential head coaching candidate at other programs in recent weeks.
Reports have linked Holtmann to both Ole Miss and Notre Dame as a possible target for head coaching vacancies, even amid his worst season in Columbus by far. But following the Buckeyes’ first win since January on Sunday, Holtmann said he is “absolutely” committed to a future at Ohio State.
“Yes, absolutely. I love it here. I love it here, and Gene (Smith) and I have been very open about our plan in terms of moving forward and what our plan was after last year with somewhat of a rebuild roster,” Holtmann said. “What that was gonna look like, how young we were gonna be, our commitment to playing young guys, to backing it up with another young class.”
At the beginning of the month, the Ohio State athletic director told the Columbus Dispatch that Holtmann is the Buckeyes’ “coach of the future.” But a vote of confidence from Smith didn’t necessarily rule out the possibility that Holtmann could look elsewhere after a season full of criticism for his program’s underwhelming performance.
Holtmann acknowledged the disappointment on Sunday and knows not all fans will be patient with a rebuilding year this far into his tenure. But his commitment to the program remains firm nonetheless.
“It’s a little bit hard to do sometimes when you’re going into year six, and you’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna philosophically look at how we want to build this thing to give us maybe our greatest potential as a program,’” Holtmann said. “But I think we have played our young guys. We have another class coming, and there is some real excitement in that amidst the tremendous disappointment with how some things have gone.”
With two games remaining on the regular-season schedule, Ohio State (12-17, 4-14 Big Ten) will have to win the Big Ten Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes have never missed the Big Dance in Holtmann's tenure but are likely to do so in 2023, even after Sunday's win over Illinois.
