Bjork: OSU in ‘super early’ stages of hiring a 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 gathering information.
He’s 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.
“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, Bjork repeatedly stressed that Ohio State is early in its search for Holtmann’s replacement. The university is partnering with Collegiate Sports Associates, the same search firm that led to Ohio State hiring Bjork from Texas A&M, 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,” Bjork 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.”
According to Bjork, Ohio State’s status has meant the pool of candidates is deep. Formal conversations won’t begin until schools wrap their seasons, giving Bjork and CSA time to research and dig into a list of candidates.
The Buckeyes have already had early, feeling-out conversations with Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May, The Dispatch has learned.
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 added, 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 an interest in the position, sources have told The Dispatch.
Looking back, Bjork said there’s a common thread to the coaches he’s previously 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 soon. Although he declined to comment on specific names, Bjork said the candidates Ohio State is looking at include some poised for deep NCAA Tournament runs.
“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, and players will then have 45 days to enter the portal. Ohio State’s players likely will have to decide if they want to seek opportunities elsewhere or wait to learn the identity of their next coach. 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.
“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, he said, he does not take likely.
“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.”