Report: Chris Holtmann Hired as DePaul HC After Nearly 7 Seasons with Ohio State CBB
March 15, 2024
One month after his firing by Ohio State, men's basketball head coach Chris Holtmann is headed to DePaul.
Holtmann has agreed to a six-year deal to coach the Blue Demons, according to reports from The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach and ESPN's Jeff Borzello and Pete Thamel.
Ohio State fired Holtmann in February after the Buckeyes began the season with a 4-10 conference record.
Holtmann will replace Tony Stubblefield, who was fired in January after a 3-15 season start for DePaul.
After leading the Buckeyes to four NCAA Tournament appearances in his first six seasons, Holtmann will now attempt to bring DePaul back to the tournament for the first time since 2004.
Holtmann will become DePaul's fifth head coach since the program joined the Big East in 2005. Since then, the team has only twice recorded a regular-season record over .500.
The former Ohio State leader agreed to the position after being offered "a commitment from DePaul for a very competitive staff salary pool," according to Auerbach.
Holtmann's hiring comes after a historically bad season for DePaul.
The Blue Demons finished the campaign 3-28, marking the program's worst record since 1996-97.
That included an entirely winless slate (0-20) in Big East play and a 19-game losing streak to finish out the regular season, as well as 18 losses with double-digit deficits, per The DePaulia's Tom Gorski.
Holtmann began his head coaching career at Gardner-Webb in 2010, where he led for three seasons before heading to fellow Big East member Butler and then to Ohio State.
He found success early in his tenure with the Buckeyes, making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament twice before suffering an upset by No. 15 seed Oral Roberts in 2021.
The Buckeyes made it back to the NCAA Tournament only to lose in the second round in 2022, then missed the postseason altogether last season.
Holtmann finished his Ohio State tenure with a 137-86 overall record and an 11-17 record in conference and NCAA Tournament games, per Johnny Ginter for Eleven Warriors.
He received a buyout of $12.8 million for the early exit from his contract, which ran through 2027-28, according to Ohio State.
Under interim head coach Jake Diebler, Ohio State has since gone 6-1 and is headed to the Big Ten quarterfinals Friday against Illinois.
