Chris Holtmann has doubled down on his commitment to Ohio State.
Having already publicly stated he “absolutely” intended on returning to the Buckeye men's basketball program next season during a postgame press conference on Feb. 26, Holtmann reaffirmed that notion in an interview with The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday.
Following reports that Notre Dame continues to target the Buckeye head coach for its head coaching vacancy, Holtmann told The Dispatch “I'm not going to Notre Dame” and “I'm committed to being here.”
Notre Dame reportedly zeroing in on Chris Holtmann of Ohio State as new coach. Principled guy who can coach, led teams to seven straight tournaments before blip this season.
— Dick Weiss (@HoopsWeiss) March 14, 2023
Holtmann signed a three-year contract extension last spring that has him under contract at Ohio State through the 2027-28 season. The Buckeyes finished this year with their most losses (19) and lowest winning percentage (.457) since the 1997-98 season, and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Holtmann's tenure. But Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith gave Holtmann a public vote of confidence in February when he told The Dispatch that Holtmann is “our coach of the future.”
That feeling seems to be mutual as Holtmann has now confirmed his commitment to the program on multiple occasions over the past month.
"I love it here. I love it here, and Gene and I have been very open about our plan in terms of moving forward and what our plan was after last year with somewhat of a rebuild roster,” Holtmann said on Feb. 26. “What that was gonna look like, how young we were gonna be, our commitment to playing young guys, to backing it up with another young class.”
