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Ohio State's Kevin McGuff at Big Ten Media Days: 4 things we learned about the Buckeyes
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- Ohio State's Kevin McGuff at Big Ten Media Days: 4 things we learned about the Buckeyes
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Two new faces were ready for their time in the spotlight.
Now in his 12th year as the Ohio State women's basketball coach, Kevin McGuff is accustomed to the demands that come with Big Ten media day. Look into this camera, talk into that microphone, sit here and answer questions. It's a chance to look ahead to the season, publicly stump for your team and generally enjoy the circus before games begin and results add up.
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"Hopefully I can be here for a long time," McGuff said of starting another year at Ohio State. "I've been here for 12 years and I like to tell people that's like being somewhere else 25 years. It's not an easy place to be, but it's the best job in the country for me."
The same can't be said for his two player representatives. For the last three years, McGuff has had Jacy Sheldon as one of the Buckeyes designated to represent her team while other attendees rotated through . With Sheldon now in the WNBA, and a number of new faces on the roster, McGuff brought two of them to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.
Veterans Madison Greene and Taylor Thierry got the star treatment this time, looking ahead to the season and detailing their respective journeys along the way. Both are expected to play important roles for an Ohio State team picked to finish third in the women's basketball preseason poll.
Ohio State's three representatives had a full day inside the one be-all room housing a live television show, six elevated tables for interviews complete with chairs for attendees and 10 rows of seats as part of a media work room. McGuff's media responsibilities began as part of the final three-coach panel to take the stage.
Ohio State women's basketball coach Kevin McGuff speaks with reporters at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Illinois, on Oct. 2, 2024.
No questions were taken from the reporters on hand and each participant wore in-ear monitors to better hear each other during what was termed a "fireside chat." During their 10 minutes together on the stage, none of the three coaches were asked a question about their current team or the upcoming season, and with time for the live broadcast running short the session wrapped up with McGuff only speaking briefly on three occasions.
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McGuff shared his time on the set with Wisconsin coach Marisa Moseley and Northwestern coach Joe McKeown. After a one-hour break for lunch, McGuff then was seated at one of the six breakout tables, where he took questions for half an hour before his slot was done. McGuff, Greene and Thierry went live with Big Ten Network analyst Mike Hall for roughly 15 minutes before Thierry and Greene then participated in the final block of interviews from 3-3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Here are four observations from McGuff's media availability.
Buckeyes boast nearly entirely healthy roster
Other than one player who continues to recover from an injury sustained while in high school, McGuff has a full roster to work with.
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"We've got everybody except freshman Ella Hobbs, who was injured in high school," he told The Dispatch. "She's still in the rehabilitation process from her knee injury, but everyone else is out there."
The 6-4 Hobbs is a forward from Concord, North Carolina.
Ohio State's Taylor Thierry and Madison Greene speak with reporters at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Illinois, on Oct. 2, 2024.
New assistant coach could have WNBA experience
McGuff is still in the process of hiring one more assistant, and he has the calendar to thank for that. Although practice has already started and the season opens next month, McGuff said the WNBA's calendar has played a role in him getting things going despite being short an assistant coach.
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"The reason it's taking so long is I'm talking to a couple of people in the WNBA who just got through their season," McGuff said. "Hopefully within the next few weeks to a month we can get that wrapped up. Hopefully we can get the staff finalized before too long."
The open position was formerly held by Wesley Brooks, who after three seasons with the Buckeyes was hired as Utah State's head coach. McGuff said he's leaned on assistant coach Jalen Powell to take on an even bigger role in recruiting. Powell helped Ohio State sign both Jaloni and Kennedy Cambridge .
"She's done a really good job establishing relationships with recruits that we've targeted," McGuff said. "This year will be a little bit of a lighter year, but in (20)26 again we're targeting some key recruits that she's done a great job with."
Cotie McMahon benefits from 3x3 basketball
Established within the USA Basketball universe, junior forward Cotie McMahon again spent much of the summer representing the United States on the international stage. McGuff said her time spent playing for the 2024 USA 3x3 U23 National Team should particularly help her this season at Ohio State.
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"(It helped with) improving her ball handling and scoring off the dribble," he said. "Also, her 3-point shooting. The last thing is defensively in 3x3, you're sort of on an island. There's not a lot of people helping, so it really forces you to be a better defender."
McMahon and the Americans went undefeated and won the gold medal.
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Buckeyes still dealing with 'unintended consequences' of conference realignment
Alongside name, image and likeness rights, the most-discussed talking point with each coach while conducting the live interview session for the Big Ten Network was the league's expansion to 18 teams. Seemingly each coach was given multiple opportunities to weigh in on how adding Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington will impact the league, and each one gave their opinions on the topic.
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At his own interview session, McGuff said the logistics of how the Buckeyes will make things work for their trip out west are still being discussed.
"We haven't settled on exactly what we're going to do yet because part of it is unique to us, the way the schedule lies," he said. "You've got to have one off day a week, so it also become a compliance issue."
Ohio State hosts Washington on Feb. 2, a Sunday. Three days later, the Buckeyes play at UCLA and then play at USC on Feb. 8. McGuff said he's having conversations with Ohio State's sports performance team about how to best tackle that stretch as well as the recovery on the return home.
"I believe we play at 6 o'clock on Saturday versus USC, because it's a TV game, which is 9 o'clock in Columbus," he said. "Do you take a red-eye, which is not good sleep, or do you stay the night, get a better night's sleep and come home the next day? We're still figuring that out."
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There's a possibility that teams could file a waiver for exceptions to the rule that players must be given one full day off each week, McGuff said. A team spokesperson said teams might be allowed to count a travel day as a day off provided they return home by a certain hour in the morning.
Either way, there's still a lot to be worked out in this new era of the Big Ten, and McGuff had a term for it.
"It's a mess," he said. "The 'unintended consequences' is what we call this, of adding four West Coast teams."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women's basketball coach Kevin McGuff at Big Ten Media Days
