The Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program of Ohio University. The team is a member of the Mid-American Conference competing in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Bobcats have played their home games in the Convocation Center since 1968.
The first Ohio basketball game occurred in 1907 when the Bobcats defeated the Parkersburg YMCA 46–9. Through the 2022–23 season, Ohio has posted a .574 winning percentage over its 117-year history and a .561 winning percentage in its 78 years in the Mid-American Conference. The Bobcats have won seven Mid-American Conference tournament titles (1983, 1985, 1994, 2005, 2010, 2012, and 2021), as well as 10 MAC regular-season titles (1960, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1985, 1994 and 2013). Prior to joining the MAC, the Bobcats won an Ohio Athletic Conference title in 1921 and three Buckeye Athletic Association championships (1931, 1933, and 1937). In addition, Ohio has played in the NCAA tournament 14 times (second most in the MAC), appearing in 1960, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1983, 1985, 1994, 2005, 2010, 2012, and 2021. The Bobcats have been selected for the National Invitation Tournament five times: in 1941 (runner-up), 1969, 1986, 1995, and 2013. Ohio also appeared in the College Basketball Invitational in 2008, 2016, and 2022 and the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2011 and 2014. The program was ranked 86th in Street & Smith's 100 Greatest Basketball Programs of All Time, published in 2005.
History
The first intercollegiate men's basketball game involving an Ohio University team was played in Athens in 1907 against the Parkersburg YMCA. Under the direction of coach James Jones, the Bobcats won the game by a score of 46–9 and continued their victories with a 5-game winning streak to start the season. The 'Cats would go on to lose 4 games that season and earn a 7–4 record.
Coach Jones would only be at Ohio for two more seasons, leading the team to records of 1–1 in the 1908–09 campaign and 2–5 during the 1909–10 season. Over the next three seasons, the basketball program was in a state of flux, with a new coach taking over the reins every year. Ohio joined the Ohio Athletic Conference in 1911, and started out poorly under coach Arthur Hinaman with a 2–9 record.
A bit of stability arrived to Athens with the hiring of coach Mark Banks in 1913. Banks would lead the program to a 3–10 season in his first year, but the 'Cats surged to 11–4 in Bank's second year at the helm. That 1914–1915 squad beat the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Miami Redskins twice, while also impressively defeating Wooster by a score of 51–20. Banks teams would fall off over the next several seasons, with the low point being a 2–14 mark in the 1916–1917 campaign. Banks would coach only one more year, with the Bobcats posting a 4–8 record in the 1918–1919 season.
Bank's successor was Frank Gullum, who in his two years at the helm was 5–4 and 5–6, respectively. Gullum was succeeded by Russell Finsterwald, who led the team to an outstanding 15–2 season in his first year at the helm. That 1920–1921 team defeated the Miami Redskins and Cincinnati Bearcats each twice, and also earned Ohio's first Ohio Athletic Association title. Finsterwald's 1921–1922 squad was equally impressive, posting a 19–4 mark with two wins against the Bowling Green Falcons. Though Finsterwald would only last these two seasons, his work cannot be underestimated in steering the 'Cats towards a legacy of success.
1922–1949: The Grover-Trautwein era Butch Grover took the reins of the Ohio program in 1922, and led the team to a newfound level of success. His inaugural 1922–1923 season was marked by an 11–8 record, and wins over teams such as the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Marietta Pioneers. In 1923-24, the Bobcats marked their move into the brand new Men's Gymnasium with a 16–5 record and a near miss of an Ohio Athletic Conference title. Several winning seasons later, the Bobcats moved into the Buckeye Athletic Association in 1926 and started off with an 8–13 mark in the 1926–1927 season. Ohio won its first Buckeye Athletic Association title during the 1930–31 season with a 12–4 mark. Just two seasons later in 1933–1934, the Bobcats won another Buckeye Athletic Association championship with a 16–4 record and two wins over the archrival Miami Redskins. The 1936–1937 season marked Grover's third and final Buckeye Athletic Association championship. The Bobcats were 18–3 that year, and earned wins over programs such as Xavier and Dayton. William J. "Dutch" Trautwein took over the Bobcat basketball program in 1938. He led the team to 12–8 and 19–6 records in his first and second seasons. In the 1940–41 season, the team earned a record of 18–4, and was selected for the National Invitation Tournament after a season which included wins over Xavier, Akron, Toledo, Cincinnati, and archrival Miami. With the play of Frank Baumholtz, the Bobcats finished as runners-up in the tournament to perennial power Long Island University. Baumholtz, known as the "Midvale Marvel", earned tournament MVP honors and All-American status for his NIT performance. Following his Ohio career, he became one of a few to play two professional sports – basketball with the Cleveland Rebels in 1946–47 and baseball with the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Philadelphia Phillies over a 10-year career.
After several more winning seasons under Trautwein, the Bobcats undertook a new challenge in 1946 when they joined the new Mid-American Conference. The 'Cats were 13–10 in their first year in the MAC, and followed that up with a 10–10 mark in the 1947–1948 season. The 1948–1949 season was Trautwein's last, with the team compiling a 6–16 record.
1949–1974: Jim Snyder Ohio alumnus Jim Snyder took over for Trautwein in 1949. Ohio's winningest coach, dubbed "Gentleman Jim", guided the Bobcats for a quarter century. With star players like Jim Betts, Bunk Adams, Jerry Jackson, Don Hilt, Gerald McKee and Sports Illustrated cover boy Walter Luckett, Snyder won a total of seven MAC titles. His teams made seven NCAA appearances and finished with a winning record 21 times in 25 years.
Snyder's first season was rather lackluster, with the 'Cats posting a 6–14 record. He followed that up with a slight improvement in the 1950–1951 season and a 13–11 mark. The 1954–1955 season was a breakout year for Ohio, and the team earned a 16–5 record and key wins over Morehead State and Miami University. In 1960, Ohio won its first championship under Snyder, with the team taking the MAC by way of a 10–2 league record (17–8 overall). That squad defeated the likes of the Toledo Rockets, Bowling Green Falcons, and Miami Redskins en route to a 74–66 win over in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The 1959–1960 championship team was quickly followed up by another title in the very next year. The 1960–1961 team celebrated its move into the brand new Grover Center with a stunning 10–2 league record (17–7 overall), including a first-place finish at the Canton Intercollegiate Tournament. A few years later, the 1963–1964 team made its mark as perhaps the best in Ohio history. That team won the MAC title with a 10–2 league mark, and followed it up with NCAA tournament wins over the Louisville Cardinals and the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats. Snyder's 'Cats ultimately lost to the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines in the "Elite Eight".
Though the 1963–1964 team produced a record that was hard to top, the 1964–1965 edition did its best to compete with the previous year's squad. They posted an 11–1 MAC record and a 19–7 overall mark, though fell to Dayton in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Snyder's teams would go through a slight drought until the 1968–1969 season, when they open up the Convocation Center with a win over the Indiana Hoosiers and subsequent postseason NIT appearance and a 17–9 record. The very next season, Ohio scored wins over No. 16 Ohio State and No. 13 Purdue and achieved a midseason #5 national ranking while marching their way to another MAC championship before losing in the NCAA tournament to Notre Dame.
The Bobcats won another MAC title under Snyder in the 1971–1972 season. Though the 'Cats were just 15–11 that year, they were 7–3 in the MAC with wins over the No. 12 Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes. Snyder's Bobcats won a final MAC title in the 1973–1974 season, with a 16–11 record and wins over the and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
1974–1989 Jim Snyder was immediately succeeded by his assistant Dale Bandy, who struggled to a 69–89 record over his six-year tenure at Ohio. Bandy was replaced by Danny Nee in 1980, with the Bobcats beginning a road back to prominence. His teams – led by the likes of John Devereaux, Robert Tatum, Paul Baron, John Rhodes, Eddie Hicks and Vic Alexander –tallied four consecutive 20-win seasons from 1983 to 1986. The 1982-83 team won the MAC Tournament title with a subsequent win in the NCAA tournament. In 1985 the Bobcats won both the MAC regular season and tournament but lost to Kansas in the NCAA tournament. The 1986 team finished with an NIT matchup in the Convo versus the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Nee left in 1986 to coach the Nebraska Cornhuskers, with Billy Hahn taking over the reins. His teams were led by future NBA players Paul "Snoopy" Graham and Dave Jamerson, two of Ohio's three 2,000-point scorers. Jamerson's 31.2 points per-game average in 1989–90 included a Convo-record 60-point win over the University of Charleston.
1989–2001: Larry Hunter Despite offensive stars, Hahn's teams struggled on the court. Hahn was replaced in 1989 by Larry Hunter, an Ohio alum who would lead the Bobcats throughout the 1990s. Forward Gary Trent joined Graham and Jamerson atop the 2,000-point plateau, and was the MAC's only three-time Player of the Year. Trent teamed with three-point marksman Geno Ford to guide Larry Hunter's Bobcats to a MAC Championship in the 1993–1994 season. Ohio captured the conference tournament that season with an 89–66 victory over archrival Miami in the finals on ESPN.
Hunter, who played for Snyder, saw Ohio defeat Ohio State in the Preseason NIT to open the following season. Wins over 14th-ranked Virginia, George Washington and New Mexico State earned the Bobcats a Preseason NIT title and an accompanying national ranking. That team would go on to post a 24–10 (13–5 MAC) record, en route to an appearance in the post-season NIT and a win over George Washington University in the first round.
The Bobcats would struggle in the next few years under Hunter, with the low point being a 5–21 season in the 1997–1998 campaign. Though Hunter's teams would rebound to post 18, 20, and 19 wins over the next three seasons, he was relieved of his duties in 2001 due to a lack of success in the postseason. His successor would be Tim O'Shea.
2001–2008: Tim O'Shea A new era in Ohio basketball began in 2001 when Boston College assistant Tim O'Shea became the Bobcats' 15th head coach. His teams featured Patrick Flomo, Brandon Hunter and Steve Esterkamp and saw the creation The Convo's new student section, the O Zone. Hunter was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2003 draft. Esterkamp continues to play professionally overseas as well.
In the 2004–2005 season Ohio went 13–1 in The Convo and won 13 of their final 17 games. The team defeated Marshall, Kent State, and Miami in the preliminary rounds of the MAC tournament before scoring an 80–79 overtime victory over Buffalo in the championship to earn an NCAA tournament berth. Despite a second-half comeback against the Southeastern Conference champion Florida, the Bobcats' season ended in the first round.