Next Ohio State basketball coach odds: Lamont Paris, Sean Miller, Dusty May favored to replaced fired Chris Holtmann

Earlier this month, SportsLine offered odds on whether embattled Ohio State basketball coach Chris Holtman would be back next season, with No as a -180 favorite and Yes at +150. No officially became the winner on Thursday when the Buckeyes dismissed Holtmann after a loss Wednesday night at Wisconsin, OSU's 16th straight road defeat -- the school's longest such skid this century. SportsLine now offers odds on Holtmann's full-time replacement.

In seven seasons at Ohio State, Holtmann amassed a record of 137-86 and was 67-65 in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes reached four NCAA Tournaments under him but never got past the first weekend. They started regressing last season when they lost 14 of 15 in one stretch and finished 16-19 overall and 5-15 in the Big Ten. This year, OSU started 12-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten but has just two victories since.

Holtmann, who has a contract through the 2027-28 season worth more than $14 million, has been the subject of some booing at home games and attendance has dwindled at Value City Arena. Recently, outgoing Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith (who extended Holtmann's contract in the summer of 2022) said he would not make a decision about the future of Holtmann until after the season was over. It's not clear as of this writing who will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season.

Ohio State will now start looking for its 16th head coach in program history, and that hire will be made by incoming athletic director Ross Bjork, who will officially replace Smith on July 1. Bjork was able to hire men's basketball coach Buzz Williams away from Virginia Tech while at Texas A&M in a coup. It's not out of the question that Williams, a two-time SEC Coach of the Year, could be a candidate here.

The consensus out of Columbus and via the national college basketball reports is that the two leading candidates are South Carolina's Lamont Paris, a favorite to win National Coach of the Year this season, and current Xavier coach Sean Miller, also formerly of Arizona.

Paris was born in Findlay, Ohio, played college basketball in the state at Wooster and has Big Ten experience, spending 2010-17 as an assistant at Wisconsin under Bo Ryan and Greg Gard. No offense to South Carolina, but Ohio State is a vastly superior job even though both are football-first schools.

Miller, meanwhile, has reached the Elite Eight four times and has a .728 career winning percentage. Would he be willing to leave a basketball-only school like Xavier for the Big Ten? The last time the Buckeyes plucked a coach from Xavier, Thad Matta, it worked out well. OSU could look at another coach in Ohio in Dayton's Anthony Grant.

Dusty May led Florida Atlantic to a Final Four run last season, and the Owls are excellent again this season. Most of May's good players will be out of eligibility after this campaign, so it could be a good time to leave. May also has ties to the Big Ten as an Indiana grad who served as a student manager under Bob Knight as an undergraduate from 1996-2000.

Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Who will be the next full-time Ohio State basketball coach?

• Lamont Paris +250
• Sean Miller +400
• Dusty May +500
• Chris Mack +700
• Buzz Williams +800
• Wes Miller +900
• Greg McDermott +1000
• Scoonie Penn +1300
• Anthony Grant +1500
• Nate Oats +1700
• Eric Musselman +1800
• Josh Schertz +2000
• Pat Kelsey +2000

Subscribers now have access to a premium newsletter full of expert picks and analysis from SportsLine. Sign up here!