As the final weekend of the 2024 NCAA Tournament begins, we take a look back at Harold Olsen, Ohio State’s longest-tenured basketball coach ever and the first to lead the Buckeyes to sustained success.
After guiding Ohio State to a 53-46 drubbing over heavily favored Northwestern to clinch the Big Ten championship in 1946, the triumphant Harold G. “Oley” Olsen told reporters that his squad performed at “near perfection” and that he “was never any prouder of any ball club I’ve been connected with.”
It was arguably Ohio State’s greatest hardcourt victory to that point and it happened in front of an overflow crowd of 22,822 in the old Chicago Stadium, the largest crowd ever to watch a basketball game at the time.