Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith almost went out of his way to emphasize his point.
"We weren't winning the battles in recruiting that I thought we might have a chance to win," he said Monday.
Recruiting, Smith said, was a big reason why he decided to part ways with Thad Matta after 13 seasons as head basketball coach of the Buckeyes. Matta's track record in that department somewhat speaks for itself — Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Jared Sullinger, D'Angelo Russell, etc. — but an entire five-man recruiting class no longer in the program followed by several big misses in this most recent cycle signified trouble in Smith's eyes.
So he made a change.
Friday, Ohio State announced Chris Holtmann would be its next head basketball coach. Holtmann was the head coach at Butler the last three years and comes to Columbus with some rather big shoes to fill. He is replacing the winningest coach in program history, after all.
And when Holtmann was officially announced, there was a statement from Smith that featured a key phrase.
“Chris is focused on academics, is a high-integrity person, a relentless recruiter with Midwestern ties and a proven winner,” it said.
And perhaps no class is as important to the Ohio State program than 2018.
With only nine scholarship players on the roster for 2017–18 — two of whom are seniors in Jae'Sean Tate and Kam Williams — the Buckeyes have the potential to bring in a monster class in the 2018 cycle. Ohio State only has one current commitment in four-star guard Dane Goodwin and though Goodwin said recently he remains solid in his pledge to the Buckeyes despite the coaching change he and his family will still meet with Holtmann to discuss the future and figure out what's best.
So, that's the first order of business: keeping Goodwin in this class. Next would be building a strong group around him, and Holtmann can do just that within the state of Ohio.
Scout.com recently released its updated top-100 prospects for the 2018 class and five — Goodwin included — are from Ohio. Holtmann and Ohio State need to land several of these talents.
The good news? He and his staff already have relationships established with some of them. Jerome Hunter, arguably the best player in the state, had an offer from Holtmann and Co. at Butler. So too did Dwayne Cohill, a four-star guard from Cleveland who would be a big-time land if he ended up at Ohio State.
And don't forget about Justin Ahrens, the state's No. 6-ranked player who recently decommitted from Ohio State after the coaching change. Ahrens told Eleven Warriors he'd still consider the Buckeyes, but needed to see how things shook out. He is still a very real possibility in this class.
The first step for Holtmann is putting a staff in place. That will happen relatively quickly before the July recruiting period and then it's time to put on the full-court press to land a big-time class in 2018.
It has a chance to be a program-changer for Ohio State.
