COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maybe as an Ohio State fan you have felt this in your heart, but athletic director Gene Smith put it on the record Monday after the news conference for new basketball coach Chris Holtmann. “We should be in the hunt for the (Big Ten) championship, eventually, every single year,” Smith told me. “We should be one of those teams, and Thad had it going for a window of time, where Ohio State has a chance to always be in the hunt for the Big Ten championship.” So, Coach Holtmann, that’s your bar, in case it didn’t come up during the negotiations with Smith. It’s higher for the new coach with the eight-year deal than it’s ever been for Ohio State basketball. It, in my opinion, is unrealistically and unsustainably high. It turns out that Thad Matta’s greatest eight years of success, from 2005-06 to 2012-13, wasn’t the…
Continue Reading: Gene Smith's expectations for Ohio State basketball are higher than ever, maybe too high: Doug Lesmerises
