Three Years In, Adversity Attacks Chris Holtmann regime
Every coach's honeymoon with his fan base eventually ends.
Some get an overnight stay at a bed and breakfast and others receive an extended getaway to a luxury resort.
On that scale, Chris Holtmann's marriage to Ohio State began with open-ended accommodations in penthouse suite with a private jet and a platinum American Express card at his disposal.
But all good things must come to an end, and midway through his third season, Holtmann's honeymoon is finally over.
After surprising NCAA Tournament berths and first-round wins each of his first two years, Holtmann's ability to conjure magic from severely-limited rosters has seemingly vanished after his most talented team yet started like it might secure Ohio State's first national championship since 1960.
He's dealing for the first time with a grumbling group of critics upset by an array of unwelcome events since late December:
- A four-game losing streak that cost OSU a spot as high as No. 2 in the rankings.
- Consecutive losses at Penn State and home to Minnesota that book-ended OSU dropping out of the Top 25 and losing its sixth game in seven tries.
- A one-game suspension of Luther Muhammad and Duane Washington that arose 90 minutes before tip-off against Nebraska.
- The leave of absence freshman guard D.J. Carton announced late Thursday, just 38 hours before a must-have home game against Indiana.
Those who have bailed on Holtmann for OSU's on-court struggles can play the bottom-line results card and insulate themselves from debate.
Even though Ohio State basketball will never be its football counterpart in prominence or prestige, it's still big-boy hoops with massive resources, no achievement beyond its capability and a responsibility to help football finance every other varsity sport at OSU offers.
That's a fair standard by which to measure Holtmann's program.
But if you're going to bang on him because he sat two sophomore guards who didn't fulfill his off-court expectations, or because Holtmann is staunchly supporting a gifted player who's struggling to cope with real or perceived pressure in some aspect of his life, your loyalty has turned to lunacy.
Fans say they want a coach who will fight for his team and represent their school with honorable intentions and do-the-right thing integrity, but many fans mean that only to a limited degree.
All that stuff is fine and dandy as long as the wins keep coming throughout the process.
If not, Ohio State fans should well know the danger of having coaches who sacrifice their ethics because the next game was too important to risk, the next season was too promising to imperil or the embarrassment of full disclosure was too significant to suffer.
Long before Holtmann, OSU went on NCAA probation twice because basketball coaches Randy Ayers and Jim O'Brien compromised rules compliance in the short term, only to suffer severe consequences in the long term.
Would Jim Tressel still be the Buckeyes' football coach had he walked a troublesome email about rampant player rule-breaking down the hall to his boss rather than try to conceal it and later lie brazenly about it?
Would Urban Meyer have suffered the indignity of a three-game suspension -- the only blemish in seven sterling seasons -- would he have incurred the stress that drove him into retirement and damaged his reputation nationally had he simply told the truth about a rogue assistant coach whose behavior merited dismissal long before it was forced?
Holtmann has been faced with some tough choices this season.
Neither he nor his team has figured it out yet.
They don't have the advantage of built-in breathers in the Big Ten schedule like apply frequently in football to a team of OSU's sustained excellence.
The week ahead -- Tuesday at Michigan; Sunday at Wisconsin -- looks daunting.
The temptation is to say that the next two months will define what kind of coach Holtmann is.
Perhaps instead, that time span will more clearly define the people who purport to define him.
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