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Ohio State is targeting Jake Diebler as its full-time men’s basketball coach, The Dispatch has confirmed.
Diebler, 37, is in his fifth season during what is his second stint with the program. An Ohio native who played collegiately at Valparaiso, Diebler was associate head coach for Chris Holtmann for the past three seasons until he was elevated to the interim job when Holtmann was fired on Feb. 14.
Details about the length of his contract and the terms are not yet known. Diebler met with incoming athletic director Ross Bjork on Saturday, and the final details of the contract still need to be hammered out.
Ohio State fell short in its pursuit of the NCAA Tournament bubble, but under Diebler would likely pursue an NIT bid. Doing so would mean the Buckeyes would need to have enough players to field a roster. The transfer portal officially opens Monday, one day after the tournament fields are set, and the Buckeyes valued having their coaching situation set in order to give the roster an opportunity to make informed decisions about the remainder of this season and beyond.
After losing to Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday, Diebler declined the opportunity to stump for the full-time job and said his focus is on the players and the program.
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“As far as what’s next, I don’t think there’s been appropriate time to think through that because the focus has been on the here and now,” Diebler said inside the locker room inside the Target Center. “There will be a time for that. Sorry that time’s not now. Appreciate the question, but going to keep my focus on these guys.”
The move ends a search that saw the Buckeyes connected to a number of high-profile national candidates. Ohio State was in contact with Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May from some of the earliest stages, and along the way the Buckeyes considered Xavier’s Sean Miller, Alabama’s Nate Oats, Creighton’s Greg McDermott and South Carolina’s Lamont Paris before zeroing in on Diebler as the Buckeyes piled up wins under his watch.
In recent days, the search was focusing in on May and Diebler as its top candidates.
Ohio State entered the Big Ten Tournament having won five of its final six games since Diebler was named interim coach, a run that included a home win against No. 2 Purdue and wins at Michigan State and Rutgers after the Buckeyes had lost 17 straight road games. It helped Ohio State climb out of its position as the second-worst team in the Big Ten standings and earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament with a No. 10 seed.
The Buckeyes then took down No. 7 seed Iowa on Thursday night at the Target Center, helping further their case on the bubble for March Madness and improve their record to 20-12, before losing to Illinois on Friday.
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Diebler’s coaching career began as a student assistant at Valparaiso in 2009-10, and he worked his way up to director of operations and eventually assistant coach before joining Ohio State coach Thad Matta’s staff as a video coordinator from 2013-14 through the 2015-16 season. From there, Diebler was an assistant at Vanderbilt for coach Bryce Drew and was on staff for three seasons before Drew was fired following the 2018-19 season.
Diebler was then hired to return to Ohio and join Holtmann’s staff, where he established himself as a recruiter and eventually the associate head coach. Diebler was responsible for recruiting and signing Ohio State’s entire 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes.
“Whatever ‘it’ is, he has that,” fifth-year forward Jamison Battle said of Diebler as a head coach. “He recruited a lot of us here and with that, he has a relationship with all of us. It’s easy to play for someone who you have a relationship with, who cares so much about you.”
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