A prolific scorer.

Nick Gutman, a 6-3 swingman from Mount Vernon, spearheaded the Otterbein men’s basketball program to four-straight Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament championships and, subsequently, four NCAA appearances. He and classmate Randy Linkous remain just one of two groups, along with Wittenberg from 1960-63, to accomplish the feat all four years.

Nick saw Otterbein as a good fit, where he could come play with his older brother, Matt, but also win basketball games. He made sure the Cardinals did that during his career…

Gutman played in all 33 games as a freshman, averaging 10.5 points as the Cardinals advanced to the Final Four and set a school record for most wins in a season, 30. He ultimately played in 11 NCAA Tournament games overall, which included trips to the Elite Eight as a sophomore, and second round as a junior.

A 3x first team All-OAC pick, Gutman led the conference in scoring his junior and senior seasons and narrowly missed out by 0.3 of a point as a sophomore. Otterbein compiled a 95-26 record over his four seasons, including a staggering 54-4 mark at home in the Rike Center.

One of his standout moments came during the OAC Tournament semifinals in 1993, when the Cardinals squared off against undefeated and regular-season champ Ohio Northern. Gutman led his squad to a thrilling 81-79 victory, handing ONU its only loss of the season before the Polar Bears went on to win the national title.

Gutman, who averaged 24.4 points as a senior, culminated his standout run with OAC Player of the Year honors in 1994. He scored a whopping 2,306 career points to rank fourth all-time at Otterbein, and sixth all-time in the OAC.

A 2x NABC All-American, second team as a junior and first team as a senior, Gutman still holds the school record for most career games at 121. He dropped 37 during the final outing of his career, coming in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Gutman majored in business communication and now resides in Charlotte, N.C. with his wife of more than two decades, Misty, and their two children; a son (Rudy) and daughter (Annika). He works as a regional manager for Playworld, overseeing the surfacing and installation of playgrounds across five different states.