Ross Bjork: Ohio State in 'super, super early' stages of hiring new men's basketball coach
Ross Bjork has started to have a lot of conversations. With a search underway for the new Ohio State men’s basketball coach, the school’s newly hired athletic director has been in the business of gathering information.
There’s been conversations with people across the landscape of the sport. He’s started talking with those in the community who are invested in the program, donors and, most importantly to him, Bjork said he’s been engaging former players to best understand what the Buckeyes need in their next coach.
In the process, he’s started to develop an understanding of what the job means.
“What I’m hearing is this is a blueblood-type program,” Bjork told The Dispatch. “The key word in there is ‘type.’ We’re not necessarily a blueblood based on total history. We’ve had spurts, and we had some great runs under Thad Matta, but everybody’s saying, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a blueblood-type program.’ That means there’s just really, really a lot of high-level interest in our job. That’s super exciting, to have that opportunity in front of us to get the right person.”
Retiring athletic director Gene Smith created the opportunity when he fired Chris Holtmann with six games remaining in his seventh season with the program. In doing so, Smith said he was taking responsibility for the decision while allowing his successor to begin his tenure by making a hire. Bjork was formally approved by the board of trustees Thursday and officially starts in an advisory role March 1 before fully assuming the athletic director job July 1.
Given all that, and where the sport is on the calendar, Bjork repeatedly stressed that Ohio State is early in its search for Holtmann’s replacement. The university has partnered with Collegiate Sports Associates, the same search firm that led to Ohio State hiring him from Texas A&M, to assist with the search. Doing so will allow for more continuity with the search, given that the firm already has an understanding of the university’s priorities and situation.
“It is super, super early, and because we have time we can cast a really wide net,” he said. “Anybody that says we’re zeroed in on one particular person or another, that’s not even close to accurate given the timing and the respect we have to have for coaches and other athletic directors.”
Bjork said Ohio State’s status has meant the pool of candidates is deep at this stage of the process. Formal conversations won’t begin until schools wrap their seasons, giving Bjork and CSA time to research and dig into their list of candidates.
“I don’t believe at this point in time there’s anybody we can’t say Ohio State and ask the question (if they’re interested),” he said. “Ohio State has the brand that it has for a reason. We, meaning the search firm at this point, can pretty much have dialogue at the highest level.”
Given that the state has a bumper crop of highly ranked prep talent in the coming recruiting classes, connections to Ohio are a bonus but not an absolute necessity for potential candidates, Bjork said. If a candidate doesn’t already have those relationships, he said, assembling a staff capable of bringing much of that talent to Ohio State is important.
Former Buckeyes Scoonie Penn and Chris Jent, both of whom are NBA assistant coaches, have expressed their interest in the position, sources have told The Dispatch. The Buckeyes are known to have had early, feeler conversations with Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May, The Dispatch has learned.
Looking back at previous hires, Bjork said there’s a common thread to the coaches he’s predominantly hired.
“To me, experience matters,” he said. “Experience in the chair matters, so having head coaching experience, I just think, gives people such a unique advantage. When you’re in that seat, and you’re seeing it in real time, it makes a difference versus not seeing it. You’re at Ohio State. You will be able to attract sitting head coaches, because these are destination-type jobs.”
That doesn’t mean anything significant is expected to happen anytime soon. Although he declined to comment on specific names, Bjork said Ohio State is looking at candidates who could either be poised for deep NCAA Tournament runs this year or potentially miss out on March Madness.
“The key in all of this is because we have this time we can really do a lot of research,” he said. “Then we can have a little bit of patience going into the first week of March. We should have an idea of where are we by Selection Sunday. Are we zeroed in on finalists? Are we zeroed in on a bigger group? Are they still playing? A lot of things will filter out over the next couple weeks.”
College basketball’s transfer portal window opens March 18, one day after the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced. Players have 45 days to enter the portal, and Ohio State’s players likely will have to decide if they want to look for opportunities elsewhere or wait and see who their next coach could be. Out of respect for the current team, Bjork said, he declined to comment on interim coach Jake Diebler's chances of earning the full-time job.
Bjork said that although the possibility of losing players to the portal is real, so is the need to make the correct hire.
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“Speed cannot be the enemy of getting it right,” he said. “You can’t rush through it and not get it right. To me, getting it right is more important than a perfect timeline.”
While Bjork said he’ll take in all the feedback he can gather from fellow administrators, former players, people in the name, image and likeness space and the search firm, the final decision will be his to make. It’s one that will come with accompanying big goals.
“It’s a great opportunity, and we should be competing at the highest level within the Big Ten,” he said. “If you’re doing that, that means you’re a national program and that means you can make a run into March and the Final Four and eventually win it. That’s the goal in all of this.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ross Bjork: Ohio State in 'super early' stages of hiring new coach
