When looking at the collection of Big Ten basketball coaches, Archie Miller has received a lot of hype but has done nothing to justify it. Fred Hoiberg has proved that he can consistently win at a Power Five program, so he isn’t really a hyped coach so much as a proven coach. Mark Turgeon is trying to break through and deliver a Gary Williams-type masterpiece at Maryland, but he hasn’t gotten there yet. Brad Underwood is trying to change the equation at Illinois. Juwan Howard has returned to Michigan to coach at the school he once played for. If we aren’t talking about the legendary Tom Izzo — whose place in college basketball history is secure — one sees a lot of Big Ten coaches with considerable potential, but none of them are rock stars.
If one non-Izzo coach in the Big Ten has a good chance to become The Next Great Coach in the 2020s, many would say it is Chris Holtmann at Ohio State. This forms the question facing the Buckeyes as the new decade of Big Ten basketball begins: How great will Chris Holtmann become?
Butler was led to the heights of college basketball by Brad Stevens, and we know how good a coach he was in the collegiate game. Brandon Miller replaced Stevens at Butler and allowed the program to slip, albeit for only one season. Miller abruptly decided to step down one month before the start of the 2014-2015 season for health reasons. Butler didn’t have time to conduct a nationwide coaching search. Holtmann took over a program with potential, but many people in college basketball doubted what he could do because he wasn’t really “chosen” for the Butler job. Circumstances thrust the job into his hands.
He could not have done any better than he actually did. He raised the program to a Sweet 16 standard and gained a higher seed (No. 4 in 2017) than Stevens ever attained at the school. Holtmann’s work at Butler, at a time when everyone knew about Butler and took its best shot at the Bulldogs, marked him as a coach to watch. His work at Ohio State has been very solid. He hasn’t had a season slip away from him in his first years on the job. He might have gotten a grace period from commentators and even some fans, but he didn’t need one. After Thad Matta ran out of gas in Columbus, missing the NCAA Tournament two straight seasons, Holtmann came in and made the Big Dance in each of his first two seasons on the job. He is almost certain to increase that streak to three straight NCAA berths in the coming months. The program has been improved and solidified under his leadership. Now the only question seems to be how high the Buckeyes can climb.
Thad Matta established a high standard at Ohio State, but as noted above, his tenure with the Buckeyes seemed to hit a wall. Matta reached two Final Fours and produced several highly-seeded teams. Holtmann seems capable of replicating those results. Will he do so? That’s a great question. Will he stick around long enough to create something dynastic in Columbus? That question doesn’t seem absurd — it speaks to Holtmann’s potential. The next decade will tell us if Holtmann can hit that high ceiling.