'Holtmann's Hooligans' surprise Ohio State's coach, help cheer Buckeyes to victory
NICEVILLE, Fla. – Chris Holtmann had a pretty good idea what he’d see when he walked into Raider Arena on Friday night. With a showdown against No. 17 Alabama opening up Emerald Coast Classic play inside Raider Arena, the Ohio State men’s basketball coach knew he’d see a sizeable contingent of Crimson Tide fans.
He was equal parts chagrined and embarrassed, then, when he took the court a few minutes before the opening tip of what would become a 92-81 win and saw his own face staring back at him. Or, more precisely, 55 prints of his own face staring back at him. Seated in the section directly facing the Ohio State bench was a sizeable contingent fans wearing customized, black T-shirts with a photo of his face above two words in scarlet with white outlines.
The shirts read, “Holtmann’s Hooligans” and they were the brainchild of, of all people, a few members of the Holtmanns’ Bible study group.
“The Holtmanns are in our Bible study,” Paige DeWalt, who helped mastermind the whole scheme, told The Dispatch. “We were at Bible study one night and Chris, I think jokingly, threw out there, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if you guys came to Florida for our tournament?’ We were all like, ‘Well, you don’t have to ask us twice.’ So we all then planned to come down here and kind of surprise him (with the shirts).”
Once the group decided that they should make shirts with Holtmann’s name on them, DeWalt said they leaned into the alliteration to come up with the moniker. The back of the shirt reads, “Classy ‘till tipoff.’
It was precisely around tipoff when Holtmann saw the shirts.
“I mean, I just put my head down and just pretended I didn’t see it and focused on the game,” he said, shaking his head and laughing. “I knew if they were gonna do something there was no stopping. There’s no stopping Paige. I just knew.”
Immediately after the game, Holtmann said he didn’t know who had organized the shirts but said if he had to guess, he would’ve pegged DeWalt as the culprit. In addition to the members of the Bible study, Holtmann’s mother- and father-in-law were also wearing them. DeWitt said Lori, Chris’ wife, was aware of the plan.
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As Ohio State’s players huddled up when pregame introductions came to a close, several of them peered into the stands to try and make out what the shirts said. In a game played less than an hour’s drive from the Alabama state line, it helped give the Buckeyes a little extra crowd energy.
“I seen a few of them across from our bench,” sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. said. “We have a pretty interesting crowd. I want to appreciate everybody for coming out. It kind of felt like an away game, but I felt like we were fighting back a little bit.”
Fighting like hooligans, perhaps.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Holtmann's Hooligans' cheer Ohio State's upset win against Alabama
