Before Ohio State, Colin White set records but fell short of elusive state title
The goals for Colin White’s senior season were obvious.
For two years running, White and his Ottawa-Glandorf teammates had come up just short of the ultimate prize: an Ohio Division III state championship. State runners-up in each of the previous two seasons, the Titans had dropped two title games by a combined nine points.
After a 48-45 loss to Cincinnati Taft in 2021-22 and a 67-61 loss to Cleveland Heights Lutheran East the following year, the Titans were in it to win it for White’s final season. The challenge: don’t let the pursuit of the school’s first state title since 2013 distract from the journey it takes to get there.
“I don’t think anyone didn’t know what our goals were, and that was to win a state championship,” White said. “There was really no other goal. Coach said we’re going to enjoy this year and have a lot of fun doing what we love and hopefully by the end we’re where we want to be.”
That final goal would prove elusive for the 2024 Ohio State signee, but White and the Titans would make some history along the way.
Managing expectations
Getting over the hump was going to be a challenge for Ottawa-Glandorf. Although they returned a few key pieces from the previous year’s state runners-up, the Titans began the preseason with a realization that they had lost some of the firepower that had carried them in 2022-23. As the team gathered for its first practice, coach Tyson McGlaughlin knew he would need to utilize White differently than he had the year prior.
“We needed to use him as a decoy sometimes to get some guys a little bit extra time, but we also needed to use him as a facilitator because the more times the ball was in Colin’s hands, more guys defensively gravitated towards him,” he said.
It meant that a player who had averaged 20.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists as a junior would be needed to show improvement handling the ball. In each of his previous three seasons, White had steadily improved his outside shooting touch as part of a progression that led to Ohio State finally offering him a scholarship during the summer of 2023.
Now he would have to do even more as a senior.
“He’s always had the athletic ability, the tools, but people were questioning how well he can shoot consistently,” McGlaughlin said. “He’s shown that he’s a knock-down shooter now. I think that next part of the evolution of his game was handling the ball, and we needed to put the ball in his hands as much as possible with the personnel we had this year.”
While the Titans worked to bring some younger point guards along, the two-time reigning Western Buckeye League player of the year and first-team all-Ohio selection would face a barrage of different defensive game plans.
“It felt like teams were really trying to pressure me full-court and have another guy ready in help position, sometimes send a double, so whenever I got it in the post, I was doubled most of the time,” he said. “I think I garnered attention from all five players, which in the past they couldn’t do that because of the teams we had but this year they could guard me with five guys.”
The increased attention followed White off the court, where he was essentially the biggest name in every gym where the Titans played. McGlaughlin said no autograph request went unfulfilled, and White said he signed everything from Crocs to foreheads during the course of his senior season.
“If there is a walking billboard how you’d want a kid to handle the spotlight, Colin’s face should be on it,” the coach said. “There’s no arrogance to Colin White. He’s just a confident kid that understands he was that same kid (asking for an autograph) 10 years ago.”
Colin White sets scoring record, Ottawa-Glandorf clinches title
White opened his senior season within shouting distance of the Titans’ all-time scoring record. Through three years, White had poured in 1,331 points, trailing all-time record holder Tim Pollitz by 362 points.
As Ottawa-Glandorf prepared for a Jan. 26 home game against Van Wert, Ohio, White was on the cusp of breaking the record. It was a growing talking point in the community and in the hallways at school, where White said he was constantly asked how close he was by good-natured classmates.
The increased attention was a credit to the fanbase, McGlaughlin said, which viewed the record as something that belonged to everyone.
“In our communities, it’s their record, not so much Colin White’s record,” the coach said. “Everybody wanted to be a part of it that night.”
As the number approached, White said he was ready to eclipse Pollitz simply so that his teammates could get back to focusing on their goal of winning a state title. As a result, the record-breaking shot wasn’t necessarily one White said he was supposed to take.
“I probably should’ve gotten to the rim in transition but I kicked it out and my teammate, Caden (Erford), one of my best friends, threw it to me in the post and I had like four guys on me but I just wanted to get this record thing done and over with,” he said. “I was backing this dude down, about four guys around me, and I just rose up and shot a fadeaway to my left and it went in. It was pretty fun and exciting, but it was probably a bad shot in the eyes of my coach.”
McGlaughlin laughed but didn’t disagree with White’s assessment.
“It’s not one that we practice, I can tell you that,” he said. “But I told Colin for about the last two years, you put the time in. If you feel like that’s a shot that you can make, then you take it. I don’t get on his case too much, but I definitely did bust his chops about it.”
The game was stopped, Pollitz came from the stands and he passed a symbolic baton to White before play resumed. It was a memorable moment, but not one that outweighed what White viewed as the highlight game of the season.
That was a Feb. 9 game at Lima Shawnee, a battle of two unbeaten teams tied atop the conference standings. Although the Titans still had two more regular-season games, a win against the Indians would allow them to control their own destiny.
White battled foul trouble but still led Ottawa-Glandorf with 16 points in a 55-41 win.
“We went in there to a hostile environment and got the job done,” he said. “I might not have had my best game, but the team played well and we scratched and clawed for a win. That was a fun game. I love going into hostile environments.”
The Titans got the win, but White’s future plans were about to take a hit.
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How did Colin White handle Ohio State firing Chris Holtmann?
Ottawa-Glandorf’s regular season was winding down when White got a midday phone call from Jake Diebler, his primary recruiter at Ohio State. It was February 14, and Diebler was calling to let White know that the Buckeyes had fired coach Chris Holtmann midway through his seventh season with the program.
The news came as a shock to White, who quickly left lunch and headed to McGlaughlin’s office. Diebler’s message was for White not to worry, that the situation would work itself out, but two weeks shy of Ottawa-Glandorf’s first playoff game, that was a tough challenge for a player who had worked for years to land his Ohio State scholarship offer.
“It took my focus off of it for a little bit, but my coach is great and he brought it right back,” White said. “He said, ‘You can’t do anything about it. You can’t change what happened or change the future, so we’re just going to let it play out and it’ll work out for the best.’ That was a hectic day and not really a day I want to relive.”
Ohio State Buckeyes: Colin White sticking with Ohio State commitment for now as coaching search gets underway
McGlaughlin said he’d heard rumblings about Holtmann’s job status leading into Valentine’s Day but that he was also surprised to hear the news. As he helped his star player navigate the situation, McGlaughlin said White’s commitment to both Ohio State and his Ottawa-Glandorf teammates did not change.
“There was obviously some concern, but Colin wanted to be a Buckeye,” he said. “I don’t think it really mattered (what coach) was going to come in, but when coach Diebler got it, that was a huge relief off of Colin because he just loves Diebs so much. It was awkward for him, and for us heading into the tournament with that hanging over his head, you never know how kids are going to react, but typical Colin White fashion he handled it and moved right along and you wouldn’t have even known it.”
That proved true as the Titans methodically advanced through the state tournament. Ottawa-Glandorf won four of its five games by double figures in capturing a regional title with a 57-43 win against Castalia Margaretta on March 16 that put the Titans into the state semifinals and White into rare company.
When Ottawa-Glandorf tipped off against Harvest Prep inside Dayton’s UD Arena on March 22, White became only the second player in Ohio history to start in the state semifinals in all four years of high school. The other?
LeBron James.
“I just kind of chuckled like, ‘This is pretty cool,’ ” he said. “It’s kind of a surreal moment to see your name and LeBron’s on a list. As a kid, you don’t think you’re ever going to see that.”
Colin White gets the final shot – again
Just like as a sophomore, White would get the final shot. On a baseline out-of-bounds play against Taft, the sophomore took a pass and fired off a potentially game-tying, leaning shot from the right corner at the buzzer that didn’t fall.
The final shot of his prep career looked rather familiar. Trailing by three points with two seconds left, the Titans drew up one final look for a shot to either tie the game or win it. McGlaughlin drew up the play he felt gave Ottawa-Glandorf the best chance to advance, and it called for White to take a 3-pointer.
The problem was that the Titans had run the same play in a similar situation during a regular-season game against Harvest Prep two years prior, and the Warriors remembered. So when Grant Schroeder’s side inbounds pass sailed toward White on the opposite side of the court, Harvest Prep had a pretty good idea what was coming.
“Two seconds to go, our playbook’s probably not as deep as it needed to be in that situation and ultimately what I wanted more than anything was to get the ball in Colin’s hands,” McGlaughlin said. “From a coaching standpoint, I wish I would’ve got him a better shot, but that’s part of it. He willed us back. We just didn’t have enough to get over the hump.”
McGlaughlin said the team would talk each Thursday about end-of-game situations and stress the importance of at least getting a shot off and having a chance of success. White said he knew the shot would fall short a microsecond after it left his fingers with Harvest Prep’s Ephraim Campbell playing tight defense.
“It didn’t feel great off the hand because I knew it was short right away when he tipped it,” he said. “That was a tough feeling, another feeling I don’t really want to relive and go back on that day. It was a tough day and an emotional time.”
White finished the game with 32 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks and four steals – but Ohio's Mr. Basketball fell short of that elusive state title in the 61-59 loss.
“I think it’s still eating at him because that’s the competitor that he is,” McGlaughlin said. “You work so hard for something and you want something so bad, and when you finally realize that you didn’t get to that ultimate goal, it hits you. I wanted them to taste that gold, but I wouldn’t change the journey because it’s going to make Colin a better player, a better person.
“As he heads to Ohio State, there’s not going to be anybody hungrier than Colin because all he cares about is winning. People are going to see that.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's Colin White enjoyed prolific prep career
