Washington's Kevin McGuff hired as next Ohio State women's basketball coach

Washington women's basketball coach Kevin McGuff is reportedly in line to succeed Jim Foster as the head coach of the Ohio State women's basketball team. The Huskies went 21-12 this season (11-7 in Pac-12 conference play) before losing to Pacific 85-78 in the 2013 Women's NIT. This was just McGuff's second season in Seattle; in his first, the Lady Huskies went 20-14 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2012 Women's NIT. That marked Washington's first winning season since 2006-2007.

Prior to Seattle, McGuff was the head coach at Xavier for nine years. In Cincinnati, he led the Lady Musketeers to a 214-73 record, setting a record for the most wins in school history, and reaching the post season every year he was the coach there. He also led Xavier to five straight NCAA Tournament appearances and regularly topped the Atlantic-10. The team failed to lose a conference game his final two seasons there.

While not quite the splash hire some of the other high profile candidates Gene Smith was reportedly targeting would've been, McGuff does bring the added advantage of already having a working knowledge of the 2014 Ohio recruiting landscape. Given the relative lateness in the game, it'll be critical for McGuff and his new staff to get situated in a hurry to help lay the groundwork for the future of Ohio State women's basketball.

UPDATE - 5:32 p.m. : The university has confirmed McGuff is the next steward of the women's basketball program. He'll be introduced as a 5 p.m. EDT news conference tomorrow.