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Head Coach Candidate Profile: Jake Diebler
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
The 37-year old has never been a head coach before now, but has this Ohio State team playing its best basketball of the season.
Current position: Interim Head coach, Ohio State (2024-present)
Previous Stops:
Valparaiso (2011-2013, assistant)
Ohio State (2013-2016, video coordinator)
Vanderbilt (2016-2019, assistant)
Ohio State (2019-2022, assistant)
Ohio State (2022-2024, associate head coach)
Overall Record: 6-1 (.857)
Current Contract:
Two-year, $1-million dollar contract that expires June 30, 2024
There’s some serious momentum building from the fans for Ross Bjork to remove the interim tag from Diebler’s title and give him the full-time job, as well as a number of donors and former players allegedly telling Bjork that Diebler is “the guy.” Bjork did share with the Columbus Dispatch a few weeks ago that input from former players will be crucial in his search, but will it be enough to hand the job to a first-time head coach?
Despite his lack of experience compared to some of the other candidates, there are some valid reasons to think Jake Diebler is the man for the job.
First and most importantly, he is absolutely crushing his on-the-job audition. When Chris Holtmann was fired on February 14, Diebler was named interim head coach and had four days to prepare for Purdue, the number two team in the country. While preparing for Purdue, Diebler also was trying to help a group of young men — and his staff — mentally deal with the emotions of losing Holtmann at a moment’s notice. Even with all of that swirling around in their heads, Diebler guided the team to a 73-69 upset of the second-ranked Boilermakers.
Since then, Ohio State has also picked up wins over Michigan State, — which was Ohio State’s first win in East Lansing in 12 years — Nebraska, and Michigan. The team was 4-10 in the Big Ten when Diebler took over, now they’re 8-11 and have the tiniest of chances at making the NCAA Tournament, which seemed completely impossible two weeks ago.
In short: Diebler is coaching his tail off — it doesn’t matter if you’ve got seven games experience or seven years, turning this mess around and getting this team in the NCAA tournament conversation means Diebler deserves to be in the conversation for the job.
Diebler is also the key to keeping the core of this team together. If you think keeping guys like Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Felix Okpara, Devin Royal, and Scotty Middleton together is important, keeping Diebler will do that. If Bjork hires someone else, there’s a good chance most of those players will enter the transfer portal. A team led by juniors Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle, with Diebler at the helm plus a full summer of Diebler working the transfer portal and summer workouts his own way, doesn’t sound half bad, right?
There are also long-term recruiting implications of Diebler becoming head coach. There are multiple four and five-star recruits in the classes of 2025 and 2026 that are waiting to find out if Diebler is the coach before making a decision. Marcus Johnson, a five-star 2026 guard from Cleveland, was at the Michigan game “in support” of Diebler Sunday afternoon. Five-star guard Darryn Peterson is another 2025 recruit who is waiting to find out if Diebler is named head coach before making a final decision. There’s also Colin White and Juni Mobley — Ohio State’s two 2024 commits — who are waiting to see who is hired before deciding if they will de-commit or not.
Ultimately it will be up to Bjork to decide if the short-term benefits of getting elite talent in upcoming classes will be worth the “risk” of hiring Diebler. But Diebler is a huge reason why players like Thornton, Gayle, Malaki Branham, and Brice Sensabaugh came to Ohio State. That kind of recruiting would assumedly continue with him as head coach.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25318969/usa_today_22590625.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Ohio State at Minnesota")
Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports
As great as Ohio State has been since Diebler was promoted, success in a 10 or 12-game span doesn’t mean he would continue being that successful next season and beyond. Even if he gets this team to the NCAA Tournament, that doesn’t mean his lack of experience won’t show itself next year, causing Bjork to question if hiring the guy with no head coaching experience was the right decision with his first big hire as Ohio State athletic director.
There’s a reason why nearly all coaches follow the “top assistant to head coach at a smaller school to head coach at a bigger school” pipeline. There’s a ton of pressure at the highest level — more people in your ear about money, recruiting, and winning. There’s also a much bigger fanbase, starving to see banners hung in the rafters. We can’t forget that Holtmann did go to the NCAA Tournament four times out of his six chances, so Diebler would have to blow past that benchmark by a good margin to prove he was the “right” hire.
Bjork may also want to move in a different direction than Diebler just for the fact that he was Holtmann’s top assistant. While the buck stopped at Holtmann, Diebler was his top assistant and is at least partially responsible for the massive struggles of the program for the last two years. Getting hot at the tail end of what will likely still end up a lost season does not change that.
While money won’t be the biggest factor in Diebler’s future, it will play a part. If the Buckeyes go on a magical run that takes them to the first round of the NCAA Tournament and beyond, Bjork will be put in a tough spot. You don’t pay your basketball coach $12.8 million to walk away, just to hire that coach’s top assistant who is currently making $500,000 and would only demand a fraction of the money that Ohio State has available to hire the next men’s basketball coach.
There’s an opportunity for Bjork to take a big swing and hire an even bigger name with his first big hire. He isn’t hoping Ohio State fails, but we can agree that the fighting Jake Dieblers will need to string together several more wins in a row for Bjork to consider making the 37-year-old northwest Ohio native his first hire at OSU.
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Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
The 37-year old has never been a head coach before now, but has this Ohio State team playing its best basketball of the season.
For the next several weeks, Land-Grant Holy Land will highlight candidates for the Ohio State men’s basketball head coaching position, including their current and previous coaching positions, win/loss record, and (in our opinion) the pros and cons of hiring each.
Current position: Interim Head coach, Ohio State (2024-present)
Previous Stops:
Valparaiso (2011-2013, assistant)
Ohio State (2013-2016, video coordinator)
Vanderbilt (2016-2019, assistant)
Ohio State (2019-2022, assistant)
Ohio State (2022-2024, associate head coach)
Overall Record: 6-1 (.857)
Current Contract:
Two-year, $1-million dollar contract that expires June 30, 2024
Why Ohio State should hire Jake Diebler:
There’s some serious momentum building from the fans for Ross Bjork to remove the interim tag from Diebler’s title and give him the full-time job, as well as a number of donors and former players allegedly telling Bjork that Diebler is “the guy.” Bjork did share with the Columbus Dispatch a few weeks ago that input from former players will be crucial in his search, but will it be enough to hand the job to a first-time head coach?
Despite his lack of experience compared to some of the other candidates, there are some valid reasons to think Jake Diebler is the man for the job.
First and most importantly, he is absolutely crushing his on-the-job audition. When Chris Holtmann was fired on February 14, Diebler was named interim head coach and had four days to prepare for Purdue, the number two team in the country. While preparing for Purdue, Diebler also was trying to help a group of young men — and his staff — mentally deal with the emotions of losing Holtmann at a moment’s notice. Even with all of that swirling around in their heads, Diebler guided the team to a 73-69 upset of the second-ranked Boilermakers.
Since then, Ohio State has also picked up wins over Michigan State, — which was Ohio State’s first win in East Lansing in 12 years — Nebraska, and Michigan. The team was 4-10 in the Big Ten when Diebler took over, now they’re 8-11 and have the tiniest of chances at making the NCAA Tournament, which seemed completely impossible two weeks ago.
In short: Diebler is coaching his tail off — it doesn’t matter if you’ve got seven games experience or seven years, turning this mess around and getting this team in the NCAA tournament conversation means Diebler deserves to be in the conversation for the job.
Diebler is also the key to keeping the core of this team together. If you think keeping guys like Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Felix Okpara, Devin Royal, and Scotty Middleton together is important, keeping Diebler will do that. If Bjork hires someone else, there’s a good chance most of those players will enter the transfer portal. A team led by juniors Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle, with Diebler at the helm plus a full summer of Diebler working the transfer portal and summer workouts his own way, doesn’t sound half bad, right?
There are also long-term recruiting implications of Diebler becoming head coach. There are multiple four and five-star recruits in the classes of 2025 and 2026 that are waiting to find out if Diebler is the coach before making a decision. Marcus Johnson, a five-star 2026 guard from Cleveland, was at the Michigan game “in support” of Diebler Sunday afternoon. Five-star guard Darryn Peterson is another 2025 recruit who is waiting to find out if Diebler is named head coach before making a final decision. There’s also Colin White and Juni Mobley — Ohio State’s two 2024 commits — who are waiting to see who is hired before deciding if they will de-commit or not.
Ultimately it will be up to Bjork to decide if the short-term benefits of getting elite talent in upcoming classes will be worth the “risk” of hiring Diebler. But Diebler is a huge reason why players like Thornton, Gayle, Malaki Branham, and Brice Sensabaugh came to Ohio State. That kind of recruiting would assumedly continue with him as head coach.
Why Ohio State should not hire Jake Diebler:
As great as Ohio State has been since Diebler was promoted, success in a 10 or 12-game span doesn’t mean he would continue being that successful next season and beyond. Even if he gets this team to the NCAA Tournament, that doesn’t mean his lack of experience won’t show itself next year, causing Bjork to question if hiring the guy with no head coaching experience was the right decision with his first big hire as Ohio State athletic director.
There’s a reason why nearly all coaches follow the “top assistant to head coach at a smaller school to head coach at a bigger school” pipeline. There’s a ton of pressure at the highest level — more people in your ear about money, recruiting, and winning. There’s also a much bigger fanbase, starving to see banners hung in the rafters. We can’t forget that Holtmann did go to the NCAA Tournament four times out of his six chances, so Diebler would have to blow past that benchmark by a good margin to prove he was the “right” hire.
Bjork may also want to move in a different direction than Diebler just for the fact that he was Holtmann’s top assistant. While the buck stopped at Holtmann, Diebler was his top assistant and is at least partially responsible for the massive struggles of the program for the last two years. Getting hot at the tail end of what will likely still end up a lost season does not change that.
While money won’t be the biggest factor in Diebler’s future, it will play a part. If the Buckeyes go on a magical run that takes them to the first round of the NCAA Tournament and beyond, Bjork will be put in a tough spot. You don’t pay your basketball coach $12.8 million to walk away, just to hire that coach’s top assistant who is currently making $500,000 and would only demand a fraction of the money that Ohio State has available to hire the next men’s basketball coach.
There’s an opportunity for Bjork to take a big swing and hire an even bigger name with his first big hire. He isn’t hoping Ohio State fails, but we can agree that the fighting Jake Dieblers will need to string together several more wins in a row for Bjork to consider making the 37-year-old northwest Ohio native his first hire at OSU.
Continue reading...