What the university can do, according to his contract
On Friday, May 6, the Dublin police department charged Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. On Tuesday, McGuff was in court in Dublin to receive his punishment. While the final outcome is not yet known, it does raise the question of what the offence means for McGuff’s career with Ohio State, and how it might impact the program.
McGuff’s contract, which goes through the end of the 2025-26 season, includes a lengthy list of actions that the university can use as reason to fire McGuff for cause. One of those is breaking a law of the state of Ohio.
“A violation by Coach of any University Rules or violation by Coach of any law of the State of Ohio or the United States,” the contract states, “including but not limited to, Ohio’s ethics laws, as determined by Ohio State.”
Any termination for cause would come without any severance or additional payment of his current salary of $675,000 per season. Should the university decide to part ways with the head coach of 13 years for the OVI charge, any payment would stop immediately. If athletic director Ross Bjork decides to go that route, it would not require the university to provide any sort of buyout for the remaining season of McGuff’s contract, or any additional benefits received by McGuff as a coach of Ohio State.
There is no direct precedent in Ohio State athletic department history of a head coach being fired for an OVI or driving under the influence-related offense, especially not during Bjork’s one-year tenure as AD.
Last week, McGuff told his team about the incident, and sources indicate that, at the time, he did not know how the school would handle the situation. McGuff showed remorse for his actions, according to sources, stemming from his driving recklessly and turning down a breathalyzer test at the scene of the incident.
If Ohio State terminates McGuff’s contract, it leaves a lot of questions about the future of the program. While there are ready-to-go head coaches on the staff in longtime assistant Carla Morrow and former WNBA head coach and basketball Hall of Famer Katie Smith (currently an assistant), McGuff’s firing would also open up a 30-day transfer portal window, allowing any player to explore options elsewhere.
With the hiring of Smith, fans have speculated if she was the future head coach of the program, as arguably the greatest player in program history with experience leading professional teams to titles as both a player and coach in her long Hall of Fame career.
An exit for McGuff would put an end to one of the most successful coaching spells in program history. In 12 seasons, McGuff’s Buckeyes won four regular-season championships and one conference tournament title. Admittedly, two of those regular-season titles and the lone tournament championship were vacated due to recruiting violations under McGuff’s watch.