At his introductory news conference Monday morning, new Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said he anticipated having a staff in place soon.
“We’re going to build an incredible staff, I can promise you that,” Holtmann said. “I’m extremely excited about that. That will take place here in the coming days to weeks and it’s going to happen quickly.”
Turns out, that’s exactly what happened.
Ohio State officially announced the hirings of Mike Schrage, Ryan Pedon and Terry Johnson on Thursday. All three were full-time assistants with Holtmann at Butler last season and all three opted to make the move with him to Columbus to coach the Buckeyes.
The trio replaces Dave Dickerson, Greg Paulus and Chris Jent, who were all part of Thad Matta’s staff at Ohio State last season. Holtmann was officially announced as Matta’s replacement Friday.
"I am excited about the addition of Ryan, Mike and Terry to our coaching staff,” Holtmann said in a statement. “They are outstanding people and coaches. They complement each other extremely well. I know they are committed to working hard to help Ohio State Basketball compete at the highest level. They are excited to get to work!"
Schrage was at Holtmann’s introductory press conference Monday and it was reported Sunday he would be the first to make the jump to Ohio State. He spent just one season at Butler but worked as a Stanford assistant from 2008–16. Prior to that, Schrage was the director of operations and recruiting coordinator at Duke. He has 18 years of coaching experience at those three stops.
Pedon, 39, was the ace recruiter of Holtmann’s staff at Butler and a Columbus native. He played collegiately at Wooster and was an assistant at Illinois, Toledo and Miami (Ohio).
Johnson, 43, has been part of the Butler staff since 2007. In his 10 seasons as a Bulldogs, assistant, Butler is 250–97. Prior to his long stint at Butler, Johnson was an assistant coach for two seasons at IPFW.
Both Pedon and Johnson reportedly interviewed for the Butler head coaching job. Ultimately, though, the Bulldogs hired Milwaukee head coach and former Butler player LaVall Jordan.
