Chris Holtmann: 'The Happiest Our Guys Have Been is the Seven Weeks They Were With Us this Summer'

The Ohio State Buckeyes basketball coach checks in with Ryen Russillo to talk coronavirus impacts on his team, plans for 2020-2021 and a text message that picked him up when he really needed a boost last spring.

CoVID-19 has impacted essentially all facets of our society since college and professional sports came to a screeching halt last March. College basketball teams across the country are hoping there is a new plan being formed for the 2020-21 season after last year's postseason tournaments were cut short.

Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann joined the Ryen Russillo podcast last Thursday and talked about the effects COVID-19 has had on his team, the days when last season was abruptly canceled and how it's impacted recruiting. Holtmann even detailed a special text message he received from a notable Buckeye in March.

Much like the football team this summer, the men’s basketball team has been on campus preparing for the upcoming season. Holtmann said he notices the demeanor of his team is night and day compared to when the players are away from Columbus.

“The happiest our guys have been is the seven weeks they were with us this summer,” he said.

The team is working on trying to get back towards "normal". As the Buckeyes were winding down the end of this past regular season, they found their stride and were excited to make a run at the conference title. But they never got the chance to take the floor.

“I remember driving to the Big Ten [tournament.] We took a bus from Columbus to Indianapolis. I called my athletic director Gene Smith and said, ‘I’m hearing there could be some cancellation.’ I kept hearing this could happen. At that time, we were both convinced it wasn’t going to happen,” Holtmann described.

“We went through that evening and there is still some uncertainty and that was the night of Rudy Gobert. It started to trickle down from the NBA.”

That’s when Holtmann received a text message from former head football coach Urban Meyer.

“I got up early that morning and watched film. We were playing Purdue. I got a pretty early text message from Urban Meyer that came in … All he said was, ‘A lot going on right now. FOCUS.’ In caps. Typical Urban.

Holtman continued, “[Meyer] said, ‘Hey, listen. Focus on what you’re doing, don’t worry about what’s going on other places.’ That kind of snapped me to it right there. I said, ‘Alright, coach.’ I watched a little more film and went through a walk through.”

Unfortunately, Ohio State never had the chance to play Purdue later that day.

Holtmann also told Russillo how recruiting for a program like Ohio State is different from his process at Butler.

“The name and the branding is more significant. Your reach potentially can go further places … When Ohio State has been elite, our state is usually really good and deep with (high school) players.

“If you’re a true blueblood — obviously our football program is a legitimate blueblood — your national scope in recruiting is different. For us, it is still going to be relatively regionalized.”

Holtmann also talked about the weekly Big Ten coaches meeting, the potential 2020-21 NCAA tournament and what style his team plays.

You can listen to the entire podcast here.

Stay tuned to BuckeyesNow and all of our social media outlets (@BuckeyesNowSI) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for continued coverage!