Gene Smith Opens Up About Search For New Ohio State Basketball Coach
Incoming athletic director Ross Bjork will have a big decision to open his tenure with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
On Wednesday, the Buckeyes announced the dismissal of men's basketball head coach Chris Holtmann, promoting assistant Jake Diebler in the interim. Current AD Gene Smith spoke about the relationship he will have in finding a new helmsman, saying it will mostly be as an advisor.
"Obviously we still have the remainder of the season, which I'm gonna help Jake with and help navigate," Smith said. "Then when Ross gets here, as he shares with me his plan for the search, I'll be there to assist him, and be very much a part of it."
Smith will hand the reigns to Ohio State athletics to Bjork following his retirement on June 30.
As for the firing of Holtmann, Smith said that was mostly his decision. Still, Smith says he consulted Bjork for his thoughts before making the call.
"I talked to (Bjork) a lot, but it was my decision," Smith said. "I told him what I was going to do. It wasn't like (I asked him), 'What do you think?'"
Several names have been tossed around as potential candidates to lead Ohio State men's basketball next season, including Sean Miller (Xavier Musketeers), Lamont Paris (South Carolina Gamecocks), and Mike Cronin (UCLA Bruins).
Interim coach Diebler will have six games to show what he can bring to the position, and prove Bjork does not have to look outside of the program for its next leader.
That stretch of auditions begins Sunday afternoon when the Buckeyes host the No. 2 Purdue Boilermakers at 2 p.m. in the Schottenstein Center.
