Ohio State’s New Coach Is Busy Making Decisions on Assistants, Prospects

Gary Williams, Ohio State’s new men’s basketball coach, jokes that the only thing he’s been able to accomplish in his first week on the job is to get a university parking sticker.

But an appointment book full of speaking engagements and clinics, interviews for positions on his staff, and meetings with his new players have kept Williams busy since moving into his St. John Arena office April 1.

“There aren’t enough hours in the day,” Williams said of his hectic schedule.

Williams was hired away from Boston College on March 15 to replace 10-year coach Eldon Miller, who was fired Feb. 3 effective at the end of the season.

“At the end of the season” became March 26, when the Buckeyes, under a lame-duck Miller, won the National Invitation Tournament championship.

Since then, despite his tongue-in-cheek understatement, Williams has accomplished much. But much more still needs to be done.

He said he will name two assistant coaches soon.

“There will definitely be someone on my staff who is familiar with Ohio,” Williams said. “You want someone who knows Ohio and who is known in Ohio for recruiting purposes. . . . There is a lot of talent in this state and it is important that we get our share of it.”

Former Ohio State and NBA star Jim Cleamons was an assistant to Miller a year ago and would appear to be the front-runner for the job under Williams. Head scout Randy Ayers and Miller’s top assistant, Todd Landrum, also are candidates to return.

Williams said it appears unlikely that Ohio state will sign any recruits this spring because he was hired so late in the recruiting period.

Randy Doss, a 6-foot-5 swingman from Chicago, was signed last fall by Miller, leaving the Buckeyes with one available scholarship. The new coach said that he had been in touch with Doss and that the recruit planned on standing by his commitment to attend Ohio State despite the coaching change.

“If the player’s good enough, the idea of taking a player who would sit out next year as a transfer is a possibility,” Williams said.

Williams was asked about the possibility of that transfer being former Akron Central-Hower center Grady Mateen, who has decided to leave Georgetown after two years of limited playing time.

“There is interest on our part (toward Mateen),” Williams said. “I know Grady from playing against him the last two years (in the Big East Conference). I’ve seen him play many times scouting and on television. So I think that’s a possibility, definitely.”

NCAA regulations prohibit schools from talking to athletes in other programs. So Williams has contacted Georgetown, which is funneling requests to Mateen.

“He has shown some interest in (Ohio State) and obviously we’d be interested in talking to him,” Williams said.

The 6-foot-11 Mateen has said that he will make no decision about his future school until May 1, but that Ohio State is one of the finalists for his services.

While awaiting Mateen’s decision and making decisions of his own about the makeup of his staff, Williams has spent what spare time he has agreeing to speak at every camp, clinic, banquet, and shopping mall opening in the state over the next six months. Or so it seems.

Williams says all the hours and all the speaking engagements are worth it if the Ohio State program is to again be in the Top 20.