Assistant coach Jake Diebler coaches from the sideline during the Ohio State-Penn State game. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
The Buckeyes have named assistant coach Jake Diebler the interim men’s basketball head coach following Wednesday’s firing of Chris Holtmann, according to a release from the athletic department.
The Buckeyes will begin searching for their new head coach following the end of the 2024 season, according to the release. The search will be led by the newly appointed athletic director Ross Bjork, who doesn’t officially begin in his new role until July 1. However, he will begin work with Ohio State on March 1 in an interim role as a senior adviser to current Senior Vice President & Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletic Director Gene Smith.
Diebler was hired by the Buckeyes on April 17, 2019, as an assistant coach under Holtmann, but was originally hired by Ohio State in 2013 as its video coordinator, a role in which he served until 2016 before taking a job as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt.
An Ohio native, Diebler attended Upper Sandusky High School, where he played basketball. After high school, he committed to play collegiately at Valparaiso under head coach Homer Drew.
After his senior season, he was hired by Drew to be a student assistant before being promoted to the director of basketball operations at Valparaiso after only one season. The next year, Diebler was promoted again and became the assistant coach at Valparaiso after Drew retired and assistant coach Bryce Drew took over the program.
Diebler continued his college basketball journey when he left Valparaiso to take an opportunity at Ohio State, serving as its video coordinator under former Buckeye head coach Thad Matta.
He held this role for three years before he ultimately left the Buckeyes and went to Vanderbilt, where he served as assistant head coach under former Valparaiso head coach Bryce Drew.
At the end of the 2018-19 season, the coaching staff at Vanderbilt was let go after a second straight losing season, and Diebler was hired back by the Buckeyes as an assistant coach under Holtmann.
