Is Chris Holtmann to DePaul an imminent move as former Ohio State HC gets mired in coaching rumors

The DePaul Blue Demons have been one of the programs struggling to find relevancy on the basketball court as their season ended in a whimper after losing in the first round of the Big East Tournament. They fired coach Tony Stubblefield midway through the season and needed a spark for the future.

On Thursday morning, reporter Jeff Goodman posted on X that former Ohio State Buckeyes coach Chris Holtmann is reportedly taking over as head coach for the Blue Demons. He will be replacing interim coach Matt Brady, who took over in the final 14 games but failed to win any.

Holtmann had success with his 137-86 overall record in his seven seasons with the Buckeyes. The only issue is that he has gone 67-65 during Big Ten action and never won a championship, either regular season or the Big Ten Tournament. Ohio State also never got to the Sweet 16 in his seven seasons.

OSU fired Chris Holtmann during a stretch where the program lost nine of its 11 games. This will be an intriguing program to see how Holtmann can recruit and turn them around in arguably the toughest college basketball conference in the Big East.

What should DePaul expect out of Chris Holtmann going forward?

Chris Holtmann has shown the ability to step up and coach well, but it takes a while to build a college basketball program from the ground up. This makes bringing quality players challenging as DePaul is less highly regarded than the Buckeyes, where Holtmann's recruitment faced fewer hurdles.

However, this is something the school needs to get done, as bringing in a successful coach will help alleviate the process. DePaul is viewed as a bottom feeder in the Big East, but Holtmann can help it step up and improve how the Blue Demons look in the future.