Ex-Ohio State basketball coach not owed as much buyout money

The Ohio State basketball program parted ways with Chris Holtmann in the middle of the year. Ties were cut officially on Valentine’s Day when the Buckeyes were in a free-fall. Once he was let go, the Buckeyes lost just one regular season game. Jake Diebler did an excellent job taking over the program and is now the coach of the future.

Gene Smith signed Holtmann to an extension that he didn’t really deserve two years prior to his firing. That extension would come back to bite him because of the large buyout that he was owed when the Buckeyes decided to fire him. When he was terminated, the Buckeyes initially owed him just under $15 million. Now, they won’t have to pay as much.

Ex-Ohio State basketball coach is owed less buyout money than before

Holtmann now has a new job coaching at DePaul. He found that job relatively quickly into the coaching cycle and it’s probably the level of job that he is best suited for. Because of that new job and his new contract, Ohio State doesn’t have to pay him the full amount anymore. They only owe him around $9 million as opposed to $15 million.

It’s good that the Ohio State basketball program doesn’t have to pay him as much money as they did before, but this never should have happened. The extension was a mistake, and Smith admitted as much when they held the press conference about Holtmann’s firing. Had that extension not been offered, the buyout wouldn’t have been nearly as onerous

The good news is that they have a new era of Ohio State basketball coming this year. Diebler has already done a good job with recruiting for the future and handling the roster for this year. They still have an open roster spot to fill, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with that.