Following a 10th Big Ten conference loss of the season on the road at Wisconsin on Tuesday night, Ohio State basketball head coach Chris Holtmann has been relieved of his duties, per Jeff Borzello. Holtmann's dismissal comes at the tail end of his seventh season in Columbus. He'll be owed nearly $14 million by Ohio State, according to Pete Thamel.
Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic revealed that Ohio State announced Jake Diebler will take over as interim head coach.
Holtmann led the Buckeyes to four consecutive NCAA tournaments across his first five seasons, winning three tournament games in the process. Ohio State averaged 21.4 wins during that span and won 62 percent of their games under Holtmann throughout his seven seasons.
The last two seasons have been a struggle for the Buckeyes. They went 5-15 in conference play and suffered their first losing season with Holtmann at the helm last season. A 14-11 overall record this year is an improvement but Ohio State finds itself with a 4-10 conference record with three weeks left in the regular season.
Article Continues BelowThe Buckeyes are 13th out of 14 teams in the Big Ten and could have to win five consecutive games in the conference tournament to have a shot at the NCAA tournament. Perhaps the neutral site will help Ohio State who has yet to win a road game this season.
At 52 years old, it's unclear whether Chris Holtmann will retire from coaching. He has 13 seasons at the Division I level under his belt with three different schools, recording 251 wins, seven of them in the NCAA tournament.
Ohio State basketball will likely roll with an interim coach for the rest of the season, which makes the timing of Holtmann's firing interesting. There is no word yet on who will take over the head coaching duties for the Buckeyes. Ohio State's next game is Saturday when it hosts No. 2 Purdue.