Ohio State assistant coach discusses the upcoming season on June 15, 2017. Credit: Colin Hass-Hill | Former Sports Editor

Ohio State head men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann will watch his first assistant coach leave to take a head coaching position since bringing his former staff over from Butler.

Mike Schrage, who was with Holtmann in the pair’s last season at Butler, will trade his Scarlet and Gray for Maroon and Gold when he becomes the next head men’s basketball coach at Elon. Schrage will be the 18th basketball coach in Elon program history.

“It has been a dream of mine for a long time to lead a program, and I appreciate President [Connie] Book and [athletic director Dave Blank] affording me the opportunity at such a great institution,” Schrage said. “The commitment to athletics that Elon is making is impressive and the future is very bright. Elon is a great fit for me and my family, and we can’t wait to build great relationships with our student-athletes and the Elon community.”

Matt Matheny, Elon’s former head coach, was fired on March 18 after 10 years at the helm of the program.

Schrage had been Holtmann’s assistant coach with the Buckeyes during their first two years at Ohio State. Before joining Holtmann at Butler, Schrage had spent eight seasons coaching at Stanford and nine seasons at Duke under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Holtmann still retains two of his assistant coaches from Butler in Ryan Pedon and Terry Johnson.