College basketball’s Big East Coach of the Year has become Ohio State’s next hope to win the Big Ten.Jim O’Brien, who shared Big East Coach of the Year honors, officially took over the reins Wednesday as the 12th men’s basketball coach in Buckeyes’ history.’I’ve long respected Jim O’Brien for his work and how he’s done it,’ OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger said. ‘I’m delighted he has accepted our offer.’O’Brien, who was voted the Big East Co-Coach of the Year, has compiled a 168-166 record in 11 seasons as head coach at Boston College.Boston College offered O’Brien a contract extension, but he declined it to take the Ohio State job. He felt that admission standards at Boston College were too tough for his teams to be competitive.’The thing that’s impressive to me is that when he’s able to have competitive players, he went very far,’ Geiger said.O’Brien will arrive in Columbus today to meet with the players and the media.’I think we want to get a meeting as soon as possible,’ said two-year starting guard Damon Stringer. ‘As soon as we bridge a relationship, the faster we can rise as a team.’Ohio State has already signed three recruits for next year, but according to Geiger, O’Brien will start recruiting today.O’Brien’s five-year contract has a base salary of $150,000. According to the Boston Herald ‘ with outside endorsements and radio and TV contracts ‘ the total package could be worth around $650,000 a year.’I have long respected Jim O’Brien for his work and how he’s done it,’ Geiger said. ‘I think a coach should be a good manager.’ Geiger stressed that O’Brien ‘is a total manager.’ ‘He’s a first class person on and off the court,’ said Alan Segel, who covered Boston College basketball games for 12 years with WBZ in Boston. ‘He’ll bring OSU to where they want to be.’The average Ohio State fan may not have known about O’Brien, but, ‘within basketball circles he is a big name, a respected name,’ Geiger said.O’Brien’s hiring ends a three-week long search.Geiger talked seriously with four other candidates about the job and offered it to two of them before Wednesday’s hiring.O’Brien replaces Randy Ayers, the national coach of the year in 1991, who was 124-108 in his eight years as coach of the Buckeyes.O’Brien led Boston College to the NCAA Tournament three of the last four years ‘ all years in which the Buckeyes finished with a losing record ‘ including this past season, when the Eagles finished 22-9.’He’s a great guy that everyone’s going to love,’ Segel said.