There's no question football is king at Ohio State, and that's something new men's basketball coach Chris Holtmann will likely have to deal with at some point during his time in Columbus.
Holtmann already addressed that in his introductory press conference, saying he's excited to help make basketball and football coexist together. But truth be told, Ohio State isn't just a football school — it's an everything school.
For the second-straight season, Ohio State finished second in the Director's Cup, behind only Stanford who won it for the 22nd-straight year. The Buckeyes won the national title in synchronized swimming as well as men's volleyball, had runner-up finishes in wrestling, men's lacrosse, men's gymnastics and fencing, and made the semifinals in football as well as men and women's tennis.
Winning has become the expectation for every Buckeye team. That's just the new standard, and Holtmann is excited about that challenge.
“I think one of the reasons you come to a place like this is because you understand that expectations come with it,” Holtmann said in his introductory press conference. “We’re certainly not going to shy away from that. We understand we have some work ahead of us and I think our guys are excited about that and I’m really excited about that.”
A big reason for the continued success of so many different Buckeye programs is the person leading them. Ohio State's athletic department is chalk full of fantastic head coaches, many of whom are arguably
Holtmann said he was excited to pick Urban Meyer's brain, but there are a few more coaches in this athletic program he might want to pay a visit as well. We take a look at the top coaches Holtmann will be joining in this Ohio State athletic department.
Urban Meyer (Football)
We'll start with the obvious: Urban Meyer is a very good football coach.
Meyer is pretty inarguably one of the top-two coaches in college football and his numbers since his arrival in Columbus are beyond eye popping.
He has an absurd 61-6 record at Ohio State and has never had fewer than 11 wins in a season. He led the Buckeyes to a national championship, two college football playoff appearances, a Big Ten title and perhaps most importantly, is undefeated against Michigan.
In addition to the on field success, Meyer is perhaps even more dominant in the recruiting game. Every year he's been at the helm, Meyer has brought in a top-10 class nationally as well as the Big Ten's top class. All but one year (2015), Meyer's classes have been ranked top-5 nationally and twice he's pulled in the nation's No. 2 class. His most recent class is especially absurd, having the highest per-recruit rating of any class ever and the 2018 class is shaping up to be even better.
Quite simply, Meyer is going to go down as one of the best football coaches ever. And he's Ohio State's current coach.
Pete Hanson (Men's Volleyball)
Pete Hanson has been at the helm of the Ohio State men's volleyball team for 33 years, but it's really be the past six that have established him as one of the best coaches in the business.
Since 2011, Hanson has led the Buckeyes to three national titles, averaging an NCAA title every other year. Hanson led Ohio State to its first-ever national championship in 2011 and has won the past two titles, winning back-to-back NCAA championships in 2016 and 2017. He also led the team to a historic 42-match winning streak that spanned over a year — the longest winning streak ever in school history across all sports.
Hanson has been named the national coach of the year four times in his coaching career — 1998, 2000, 2011 and most recently in 2016 when he led the Buckeyes to an unlikely national championship as an at large team.
With his recent success, Hanson is arguably the nation's top volleyball coach, and he'll look to lead his team to its third-straight NCAA title in 2018.
Tom Ryan (Wrestling)
In his time at Ohio State, Tom Ryan has taken the wrestling program to national prominence and then some.
Ryan led the Buckeyes to their first-ever national title in 2015 and their first outright Big Ten Title since 1951 in 2017. Since his arrival in Columbus, Ryan has coached six NCAA champions and 16 NCAA finalists, including four-time national champion Logan Stieber.
In addition, Ryan recruited and currently coaches Kyle Snyder, who is literally the best wrestler in the world after he became the youngest American wrestler ever to win an Olympic medal this past summer. Of course, Snyder's success is mostly indicative of his freak ability, but it doesn't say nothing about Ryan's ability as a scouter, recruiter and coach.
Ryan is already a three-time national coach of the year and has established himself as one of the top coaches in college wrestling year in and year out, leading the Buckeyes to five top-three finishes in 11 seasons.
Ty Tucker (Men's Tennis)
Ty Tucker turned Ohio State into a tennis powerhouse.
Under Tucker's leadership, Ohio State has won at least a share of 12 consecutive Big Ten regular season titles, 10 of the last 12 Big Ten tournament titles, has made the NCAA Sweet 16 12-straight times and won the ITA Men’s Team Indoor Championship in 2014.
The team has been virtually unbeatable at home with Tucker at the helm. He led the team to a 201 home match winning steak — the longest home winning steak in NCAA history, lasting nearly 12 years. Since the Buckeyes saw that streak snapped in 2015, the team is 48-0 on their home court.
Tucker has made Ohio State into a perennial powerhouse that dominates the conference and makes deep postseason runs, but the next step is the top. The Buckeyes have won indoor, singles and doubles titles, but the peak is a team outdoor title.
Andy Teitelbaum (Rowing)
Many coaches on this list have won a national championship, but Andy Teitelbaum built a dynasty from the ground up.
Teitelbaum has been the coach of the Ohio State women's rowing team since its inception in 1995 and he turned the program into arguably the most dominant team in the sport. He led the Buckeyes to three-consecutive NCAA titles between 2013 and 2015 and four-straight Big Ten titles, becoming the first coach ever to accomplish each of those. He's also won the Big Ten title seven times — a conference record — and took Ohio State to the NCAA Championships for 17-straight seasons, which has been matched by just three other schools.
The Buckeyes haven't taken home the NCAA title in a few years, finishing second in 2016 and fifth in 2017, but that shouldn't take away from what Teitelbaum has done for this program since he took over. In fact, he was named the national coach of the year for the first time in his career in 2016, which was the first time in four seasons he did not lead his team to a national title.
Teitelbaum will look to lead the Buckeyes back to the podium during the 2018 season.
Those are five great coaches, but it really isn't even a complete list. At Ohio State, there are great coaches almost everywhere you turn. We could have easily included Kevin McGuff, who recruits like a wizard, Nick Myers, who took Ohio State to the national championship game this season, or Geoff Carlston, who's taken the Buckeyes to the Sweet 16 five times since 2010.
The point is, Ohio State is full of great coaches at almost every sport. Chris Holtmann is joining an elite, elite group of head coaches and while this is decidedly a football school, greatness is expected by everybody who wears the Scarlet and Gray and everybody who coaches them.
