The Illinois basketball team will play the Ohio State Buckeyes sometime this upcoming season.
Illinois and Ohio State hasn’t been a rivalry on the basketball court. Sure, there has been the case where the Buckeyes ruined the perfect season for the Illini with a last second shot in 2005. But, overall, there really hasn’t been too much animosity between the fan bases.
What comes next doesn’t have much to do about the Buckeyes program either, but more about who they hired. Ohio State just hired a new head coach. His name is Chris Holtmann. He was the Butler Bulldogs head coach just a day ago but since Thad Matta was fired from Ohio State, he saw a chance to become the next Buckeyes head coach.
I am a pro-movement guy. I want people to improve their situations to better their lives and just their situation as a human being in general. I normally wouldn’t mind Holtmann heading to Ohio State because maybe that is his dream job. He could have just wanted the job because of money or wanting to move up in the coaching world. But, less than three months ago, Holtmann got on his high horse about morality.
Holtmann, in an interview, ripped Illinois for the firing of former head coach John Groce. Here is what he had to say on the subject.
"I had one of my closest friends lose a job not too long ago at Illinois and listen, we all get into this knowing the deal. Do I disagree with those decisions? Absolutely. Absolutely I do.My bias — do I disagree with the decision at Illinois? Absolutely. They don’t care. But I know how hard that guy works, and I know how committed he was to his players, and I believe he was really close to turning the corner.So, you know, we know what we bargain for in this whole deal and everybody wants to be here now, and when you’re not here, people get upset."
This statement would have died in my eyes if Holtmann just left it at that and continued coaching Butler. But to stand on a soapbox and bash Illinois for letting go of a coach who made the NCAA tournament one out of five seasons, and then go and leave his program after his recruiting class was signed is ridiculous.
First off, Illinois had every right to let go of Groce. He couldn’t make the postseason. He wasn’t winning enough and that alone is a reason to let him go, let alone the teams off court issues. The program was heading in the wrong direction and now there is new leadership.
Holtmann has no place to criticize Illinois and complain about “we know what we bargain for in this whole deal” when you can just get up and leave Butler for Ohio State. What is going to happen now is the Bulldog players currently with the team will have to sit out a year if they want to transfer or they continue playing for a coach who they didn’t commit to.
The class of 2017, which has five signees including two four-stars, either has to stick with their commitments for a different head coach or they have to start the recruiting process over again. On top of that, it is likely that Holtmann will take the best player in the Butler class, Kyle Young, with him because he was down to Ohio State and Butler when he eventually committed to the Bulldogs.
So, while Holtmann lectures teams about how they shouldn’t let coaches go and to have more patience if they aren’t in the NCAA tournament, he is taking off for Columbus to coach the Buckeyes and leaving a trail of destruction behind at Butler.
Next: Illini roster with Greg Eboigbodin
Oh yeah, Holtmann wasn’t too concerned when Matta was fired either. Matta made the NCAA tournament 13 out of 17 years he was coaching and only had one season under 20 wins. I don’t question Holtmann’s coaching resume but I do question his word.