Chris Holtmann and Mark Turgeon have buried the hatchet.
The two Big Ten coaches had quite the public spat during this past season after Turgeon criticized the officiating during Ohio State's February win over Maryland, claiming the officials allowed Kaleb Wesson to "be the bully offensively" against his future NBA Draft pick Jalen "Stix" Smith.
Holtmann responded to Turgeon's comments during his own postgame press conference but did not truly express his frustration until Turgeon doubled down on his comments a few days later. Holtmann took exception to the continued characterization of Wesson's play, called Turgeon's comments "inappropriate" and said he's "never seen this much conversation after a loss."
The beef took on new life a few days later when Turgeon found something else to complain about, expressing his frustration with late tipoff times, and Holtmann trolled him about that in his own press conference the following day.
It was quite the entertaining public quarrel that had us all praying for a Big Ten Tournament rubber match between the two teams, but during his appearance on our own Real Pod Wednesdays podcast with Colin and Dan, Holtmann said they made peace following the season.
"Mark and I had a postseason conversation where we hashed some things out, but you know how the season tends to drudge some of that back up in January," Holtmann said. "But he's a good man."
Holtmann also conceded that Turgeon would beat him in a game of one-on-one, though we're pretty disappointed we won't get to see that matchup materialize.
