After seven years as an assistant coach between Ohio’s Miami University and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, No. 9 Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff earned his first head coaching role with the Xavier Musketeers. The Hamilton, Ohio native, a suburb north of Cincinnati, was nearly in his hometown with the coaching role and it did not take long for McGuff to have an impact at Xavier. McGuff turned a 12-19 Musketeers side into an A10 conference powerhouse over his nine years in Southwest
Ohio.
Malibu, California’s Pepperdine University hosted McGuff’s first win at the helm of Xavier, a 62-54 victory for the Musketeers. On Thursday, 499 wins later, McGuff was back on the West Coast when the Buckeyes defeated the Washington Huskies for No. 500. Added to the coincidence was picking up the win against his former employer.
“It’s kind of ironic, really, to have any milestone happen here at Washington, where I once coached, and I had a great experience here,” McGuff told reporters. “They were very great to our family, and we had wonderful players here, and it’s a great community that supports women’s basketball. So it was, it was a wonderful experience. And so I’m happy to be back.”
McGuff’s first 11 seasons featured a Sweet Sixteen run for Xavier and a short two-year stint at Washington that was short enough to recruit now WNBA star Kelsey Plum but never coach her. For the past almost 13 seasons, McGuff led the Buckeyes in some of the program’s most successful seasons. There were Sweet Sixteen runs with the Buckeyes, a trip to the Elite Eight and seeing the play of program legends he recruited like guards Kelsey Mitchell and Jacy Sheldon.
Even so, the years in Columbus have been anything but smooth. Take the win total itself. Under McGuff’s watch, previous Ohio State assistant coaches had a series of recruiting violations that took away championships and victories. If wins were not vacated, Thursday would have been the 552nd win in McGuff’s career.
Off the court, McGuff’s reputation with fans rusted a bit with his operating a vehicle while intoxicated arrest in the spring and recent allegations from former Ohio State forward Cotie McMahon.
For the first moment, McGuff went through counseling in the summer for the arrest and recently pled to a lesser charge in court that came with a fine and a 180-day drivers license suspension. Time will tell how the second plays out.
The truth is, fans and the media see a small fraction of what happens with the team. Fans can assess a program by what they see.
Since the start of the transfer portal, McGuff lost three regular starters to it. Forwards Dorka Juhász and Aaliyah Patty left following the sanctions against the Buckeyes, then the aforementioned McMahon in the 2025 offseason. Incoming transfers included starters like shooting guard Taylor Mikesell who helped lead the Buckeyes to the Elite Eight in 2023 and Celeste Taylor who came to Ohio State for one season, won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and helped the Buckeyes secure a conference regular season title in 2024. Forward Ajae Petty transferred from the Kentucky Wildcats before last season and started every game for the Scarlet and Gray. This season, Petty visited Ohio State to watch the team as a fan.
What do the players on the team actually say about McGuff? Guard Chance Gray, like Mikesell, left Ohio for Oregon and then returned to Ohio to play for McGuff and is in her second year with the Buckeyes.
“I’m very blessed that I was able to come back and play for McGuff,” Gray told reporters. “He instills a lot of confidence in all of us every day, and he shows up every day and is a very consistent coach, and we know that every day we leave the gym, he wants the best for us.”
Could a pessimist say they do not believe her? Sure. Could Gray have responded with a brief congratulations? Sure. That sentiment from Gray and the Ohio State roster itself showed a glimpse of how McGuff’s players feel about him behind closed doors, shared on the team’s Instagram profile.
McGuff performed the usual “Dub Crown” ceremony to reward a player who stood out in a win. The coaching staff selected Gray who had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. The win was business as usual for McGuff. Instead, Gray and players threw water on the coach and soaked him before putting the crown atop his head.
Despite the off-court moments, the evidence supports that most of the players who play, or have played, for McGuff support him. If not supporting, they have made personal achievements under his coaching.
When asked about his accomplishment, still drenched from the impromptu team shower in the locker room, McGuff tried again to move the attention away from the milestone.
“As I told our team, in our profession, there are coaches with great players, and there are ex-coaches, and we’ve had a lot of great players come through our program in Ohio State, it’s allowed us to have great success.”
The next milestone for McGuff comes with 35 more victories. If McGuff, and his players, hit it, he will be the winningest coach in Ohio State women’s basketball history.
