Meet Chris Holtmann, Ohio State Men's Basketball's 14th Head Coach

For the second time in 13 years, a Butler man will assume the top job in Columbus. In 2004, Thad Matta, arrived from Xavier by way of earlier stints at Butler, both as a player and as a coach. Now Holtmann, who led the Butler Bulldogs to the Sweet 16 in March, will step into Matta's shoes.

The Butler connection isn't the only commonality, however, as Holtmann worked under several members of Matta's coaching tree throughout his career.

Holtmann broke into the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at Taylor University in 1997. Three years earlier, as a star guard for the Trojans, he earned NAIA All-American honors, leading Taylor to a 25–9 record, a No. 1 national ranking and a berth in the NAIA National Tournament.

In 1998, he was on to Geneva College, located halfway between Pittsburgh and Youngstown for his first paid coaching gig, as an assistant for the Golden Tornadoes.

He returned to his alma mater the following season, where he spent four years on Paul Patterson's staff before accepting the the role of associate head coach at Gardner-Webb. Holtmann spent five seasons with the Runnin' Bulldogs before moving back to the Midwest to take a position on former Ohio State assistant coach John Groce's staff at Ohio University.

Two years later, he was back in North Carolina, now as the head coach for Gardner-Webb. His work there can best be summed up as a reclamation project, as he took a team that had won just eight games in the season prior to his arrival to a school Division I record 21 victories in just his third season. He was named Big South Coach of the Year following that 2012–13 season. 

In 2013, Holtmann joined the staff of another member of the Matta coaching tree – Brandon Miller – at Butler. At the start of his second season in Indianapolis, Miller was granted a surprise medical leave of absence and Holtmann was named interim head coach of the Bulldogs.

While interim head coach, Holtmann showed his humor and discussed his coaching philosophy with HOOPCAST:

 Three months later, the interim tag was removed, when Miller did not return to the Bulldogs.

Now playing in the Big East, Holtmann guided Butler to a 23–11 record in his first season as interim/permanent head coach. The Bulldogs locked down a six seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they topped No. 11 Texas in the first round before dropping a heartbreaker to No. 3 seed Notre Dame, 67–64, in overtime.

Butler would return to the NCAA Tournament under Holtmann in 2016, finishing fourth in the Big East with a 22–11 record, but it was his work this past season that likely caught Ohio State's eye.

Despite being picked to finish sixth in the league, Holtmann's Bulldogs went 25–9, sweeping Villanova – with one of the wins coming against the Wildcats when they were the nation's No. 1 team – on the way to finishing second in the Big East. For his work, Holtmann was named Big East Coach of the Year and his team earned a four seed in the NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina.

In his three seasons with the Bulldogs, Holtmann went 70–31 (.693) and joined Roy Williams, John Calipari and Mike Brey as the only active coaches to lead their teams to NCAA Tournament wins in their first three seasons.

Want more exclusive company? Holtmann also joined current Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens as the only Butler coaches in history to lead Butler to the NCAA Tournament in each of their first three seasons.

Butler knows a thing or two about great coaches and recently signed Holtmann to a contract extension that would have kept him in Indianapolis through 2024–25. There, he made an estimated $1.2 million per year.

A highly-touted recruiter, Holtmann and his staff have signed the two highest-ranked classes in program history. Those classes (2016 and 2017) will be a large part of the 2017-18 roster.

Recruiting

Attempting to recruit Big Ten-caliber talent will be a new challenge for Holtmann, but he’s shown the ability to have recruiting success at Butler, bringing in the two highest-rated classes in school history the last two seasons.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith highlighted Holtmann's recruiting chops after the hiring, saying, “Chris is focused on academics, is a high-integrity person, a relentless recruiter with Midwestern ties and a proven winner.”

Here's Holtmann discussing his recruiting and player development philosophy:

Over the years, Holtmann has recruited seven all-conference players and 13 who have gone on to play professionally. Last summer, he scored a coup, pulling highly-touted forward Kyle Young out of Massillon, a week before the prospect was set to visit Ohio State.

With improved resources there’s no reason to believe he can’t do the same in Columbus. Additionally, Holtmann has signed a player from Ohio each year at Butler and he was already actively recruiting some of Ohio’s top prospects in 2018 and 2019, so relationships are established.

Personal

Holtmann married his wife, Lori, in 1999. They met while he was slacking off while an assistant coach at Taylor. Their wedding anniversary is Sept. 11, which she refers to as “the worst anniversary in the world.”

Early anniversary trip to Chicago for a few days before the Fall semester. #gladshegetsit pic.twitter.com/PuxN8QDLLJ

— Chris Holtmann (@ChrisHoltmann) August 10, 2016

They have one child, daughter Nora Jane, seven.