What is YOUR plan? Just keep riding with Diebler for a decade no matter what the results are? We might as well just kept Holtmann if that is the case.
Some or all of these are probably in play already, because actual professionals are running the show and not us dipshit fans who pretend to know what to do.
There are 8 things I would do or at least investigate doing:
1) The discovery phase. Start fresh and start from the ground level. Discover (or in some of our dumber fans mindsets) realize what this program is today. We all agree it's not "good enough". But at the same time, there has to be a realization of what this program is historically - and that's a decently successful program that is by no means a blue blood historically, but one that can be if there are certain conditions met. To build a juggernaut that you so desperately want, you have to remember your roots and build from there. Bring in an outside firm, hell form a committee of alumni and connected but unbiased basketball people - whatever. Have someone that isn't in the day to day operations review things and give options and reviews. This likely costs some $$$.
2) After the discovery phase, the facility assessment phase. What are the facilities like compared to your contemporaries - let's pick Sparty, TCUN, Illinois and Purdue. That's the group you want to join. Are the facilities even or better than those 4? If not, this is where capital improvements have to occur. That means $$$.
3) NIL. The word is out on the street that Ohio State's NIL is bad. Perception is reality. This must be fixed and fixed publicly. They get $18 million in NIL to share. Men's basketball won't EVER be on Football's level, but football is in good shape right now. Find a realignment in funds that will support both and one that will get Men's BB in a better standing. $$$
4) - related to #3 - you have to work the donors at this point in time. But not just for basketball, for football too. If you think more money can come in for football, use this situation wisely to fill in gaps for money re-allocated to basketball from football. If they only want to donate to football, cool, fine, thank you. If they are going to withhold money from basketball simply because they are struggling, they aren't really fans at that point. $$$
5) Figure out your recruiting goals and have a plan in place should option A not work out. Whether people want to admit it or not, Ohio State is not a basketball destination (yet). Simply showing up at a recruit's school and say "Hi, we're Ohio State" will get you in the door. But getting from that point to having them commit- short of kids absolutely wanting to come here - takes time, patience, resources and more time. This leads me too the next point. $$$
6) Patience. Not from the fans, but from the athletic administration. I think they pulled the trigger on Holtmann too early (they should have waited until after the season) and it caused a butterfly effect. I think they must support Diebler adequately or the cycle will repeat. Coaches want stability in basketball - and it comes from the program. The rosters are too volatile year to year. Canning coaches every 3 years is a surefire way to never get a good coach to coach for you. And while I'm here, can we dispense with the notion that Holtmann's extension wasn't earned? Dude was winning 65%+ of his games and was making the tournament. Only dumbass fans who listen to T-Bone on 97.1 for their sports takes think that was unacceptable. $$$
7) Player evaluations and addressing places of need and improvement. Granted I don't follow it as closely as some, but I can't name a single assistant coach. I had to look it up. Usually, good head coaches have good to great assistant coaches. They work more directly with the players and allow the head coach to be more of an executive. I think this has been lost since the Matta era. Further, and this ties into recruiting, Terence Dials is the recruiting coordinator. Dials is one of my favorite players ever and I absolutely wish he could have been around when the Oden/Conley team was together, but this hasn't been very good lately. I do think some of it is kids just don't want to come here for whatever the reason, but sometimes the voice needs to change too.
8) Positive energy around the program. Positivity is sorely lacking around the non-football, non-wrestling non-tennis aspects of the entire AD, especially from the fanbase. It's like a hate-love relationship and it's kinda counterproductive. With basketball in particular, the moment ANYTHING goes wrong, it's fire the coach, fuck this team, etc etc etc. Recruits see that shit. This isn't to excuse poor performance from the coaches, AD, etc. There is, however a line in which you can support the program WITHOUT being super negative and it's something this fanbase struggles with across the board. The football brand is strong enough to overcome it, but the basketball brand is not. As an AD, I would focus on building strong fan relationships and trying to encourage more positive fan reactions around the program. If it only happens when winning occurs, we're back to the chicken and the egg (and borderline bandwagon-ism)....that can't be the norm for a program that wants to be successful. This will also cost $$$.
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So there you have it. You asked, I wrote.
I think at least 5 if not 6 or 7 of these things are happening. Gus Johnson may have done Diebler a solid just by bringing it up because now Bjork has to respond if not publicly but at least behind the closed doors. Diebler defending his boss had to happen - don't be fooled by it, he wanted to keep his job unlike Jerome Tang at K-State.
