The Ohio State men’s basketball team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years will be the first for coach Jake Diebler.
At 39 years old, Diebler is in his second full season with the Buckeyes and has guided them to a 21-12 overall record in 2025-26. That earned Ohio State a No. 8 seed and a first-round March Madness matchup with No. 9 seed TCU at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.
Here five things to know about Ohio State men’s basketball coach Jake Diebler.
Jake Diebler was first promoted to interim coach
Diebler had been a member of Chris Holtmann’s coaching staff since 2019 but earned an in-season promotion when the Buckeyes fired Holtmann on Feb. 14, 2024. Diebler was given the job on an interim basis by new athletic director Ross Bjork.
Ohio State then went 6-2 with Diebler at the helm, including a 73-69 win against No. 2 Purdue in his first game, and he earned the full-time job to become the first native Ohioan to coach the Buckeyes since Springfield’s Randy Ayers in 1989.
This is Jake Diebler’s second stint at Ohio State
After a four-year playing career at Valparaiso, Jake Diebler began his coaching career there as a student assistant in 2009-10. He moved up to become director of basketball operations the following year and was an assistant coach from 2011-13.
He then left the school to become Ohio State’s video coordinator for coach Thad Matta, a role he held from 2013-16. From there, it was onto Vanderbilt, where he was reunited with former Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew. After the Commodores lost star freshman Darius Garland to injury after only five games, Vanderbilt finished 9-23 overall and 0-18 in the SEC. Drew was fired, and Diebler moved on, filling a vacancy on Holtmann’s staff after assistant coach Mike Schrage was named head coach at Vanderbilt.
He’s the son of a coach
Diebler grew up in a gymnasium watching his father, Keith, coach high school basketball. Keith Diebler has coached prep basketball in Ohio for nearly 40 years, starting at Gibsonburg before moving on to Fostoria, Upper Sandusky and now Danbury Lakeside.
He still holds an Ohio prep record
While playing at Fostoria and then Upper Sandusky, Diebler set an Ohio record with 578 career steals that still stands. He is also second all-time in assists with 835.
As a senior, he teamed with his younger brother, Jon, to help power Upper Sandusky to an undefeated season and the 2005 Ohio Division II state championship. In 2022, Keith Diebler helped induct both boys into Upper Sandusky’s athletics hall of fame.
He recruited and signed Darius Garland to Vanderbilt
Jake Diebler made a name for himself as a recruiter, solidifying that when he was able to sign five-star guard Darius Garland to Vanderbilt in the 2018 class. Although Garland was limited to five games in 2018-19 due to injury, he was the No. 11 national prospect according to 247Sports.com, and both coach and player maintain a relationship after he was taken with the No. 5 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
He has also recruited and helped develop future NBA players Brice Sensabaugh, E.J. Liddell, Malaki Branham and Duane Washington Jr.
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at [email protected], on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
