Ohio State Basketball releases contract information
Video: Gene Smith, athletic director of Ohio State University, talks about the firing of Chris Holtmann
Full press conference from Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith regarding the firing of Chris Holtmann on February 14, 2024.
Ohio State will pay former basketball coach Chris Holtmann more than $8.6 million after firing him midway through last season. The money will be paid out in monthly installments through June 30, 2028.
According to a copy of the severance agreement signed by both parties on March 14 and obtained by The Dispatch through a public records request, payments to Ohio State will be reduced by $125,000 each month since Holtmann accepted the head coaching job at DePaul, saving OSU $6,375,000.
If the job at DePaul weren’t there, Ohio State would owe Holtmann $14,990,706.25 because Holtmann signed a three-year extension in August 2022 that would have paid him nearly $4 million in the final year of his contract. But Holtmann’s contract also stipulated that Ohio State would no longer be responsible for post-termination payments if he did not seek a comparable position after being terminated without cause.
From February 15, 2024, to June 30, 2025, Holtmann will receive $155,669.15 in 16 monthly installments. From July 1, 2025, to February 14, 2026, he will receive $187,499.99 in seven monthly installments.
Monthly payments for the remainder of the contract are $171,874.99.
The severance figures could be affected by Holtmann’s situation at DePaul. A contract increase would likely result in correspondingly lower payments from Ohio State, while a termination or salary reduction could result in higher payments from Ohio State.
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Holtmann signed a six-year deal with DePaul that keeps him under contract through the 2029-30 season. In seven years with the Buckeyes, Holtmann’s teams posted 137-86 and 67-65 records in the Big Ten. Ohio State finished second in the regular season in his first season with the program in 2017-18, and Holtmann was named Big Ten Coach of the Year as a result. The Buckeyes reached the NCAA Tournament in his first four years playing in the tournament and would have been an at-large selection for the 2020 tournament, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
He was fired on Feb. 14 after a loss at Wisconsin dropped Ohio State to 14-11 overall and 4-10 in the Big Ten. In a press conference that evening, outgoing athletic director Gene Smith said he regretted the contract extension and took responsibility for the decision while allowing new athletic director Ross Bjork to hire Holtmann’s successor.
Bjork hired Jake Diebler, Holtmann’s former assistant head coach, to step in as interim coach at the end of the season. He signed a five-year contract with an annual salary of $2.5 million.
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