Jake Diebler has taken over as interim head coach of the Ohio State men’s basketball program as of Wednesday following the firing of Chris Holtmann. Credit: Lantern File Photo
With six games to go and a vacant head coaching position, the Buckeyes were in need of a new leader.
His name is Jake Diebler.
Though Diebler said he’s desired to be a head coach for a while now, he never thought it would be under the circumstance where the then-head coach gets fired and all eyes look to him to step in and take over a Division I program that needs him more than ever. So when athletic director Gene Smith asked Diebler to be the leader the team needs him to be, it was undoubtedly yes.
Diebler, now interim head coach of the Ohio State men’s basketball team, is ready to right the season’s wrongs and has just one thing in mind: the players.
“When Gene [Smith] asked me to step in, I don’t know necessarily that that decision was real hard,” Diebler said. “In that moment I immediately thought about our guys and I wanted to be there to support them and Gene felt like that was the best way to do that, felt it was a duty to do that.”
Ohio State fired former head coach Chris Holtmann Wednesday, which was a tough decision to make for Smith, and even tougher for those directly involved in the program to cope with.
Bruce Thornton, a sophomore guard, admitted that it was tough on the players to deal with the sudden change.
“It was kinda hard to really like process it especially because we got a big game on Sunday,” Thornton said. “My main focus was trying to make sure I was straight as myself, make sure I’m mentally there to talk to my teammates and evaluate what we need to get handled because I’ve never experienced this, nobody on my team has experienced this, no coaches I have had have been in this experience so just trying to let my teammates know that things happen, life happens, it’s really how you move on from it and continue to get better each and every day.”
Holtmann met with every player one-on-one and explained to them that he had been fired, hoping that they wouldn’t find out about the news through social media, rather through him, Thornton said.
For Diebler, the first thing he did after accepting the position was call his wife. Following that phone call, he said there were staff and player meetings, and he even made individual phone calls to at least one family member of every player on the team.
Diebler said the events that took place on Wednesday were a lot to deal with.
“It was a blur,” Diebler said. “It was a lot. But we have a great staff, Gene has been really helpful. But the hardest part is, for me personally, full transparency, has been at times maintaining focus on the task at hand because you just hurt for a guy you love so much.”
Diebler has been coaching collegiately for nearly 15 years now, thanks to opportunities at his alma mater Valparaiso, Ohio State and Vanderbilt. During that time, he has developed good relationships with fellow assistant coaches, sitting head coaches and especially, the Drew family.
Following Diebler’s senior year at Upper Sandusky High School, Diebler committed to play basketball at Valparaiso under head coach Homer Drew. Because of the connection they formed as coach and player, Home Drew hired Diebler as a student assistant when his playing days were over.
Dielber was then promoted twice in the next two seasons. First to the Valparaiso director of basketball operations and then to assistant coach after Bryce Drew took over for his father following his retirement. Diebler then reunited with Bryce again later on at Vanderbilt.
The Drew family has played a pivotal role in Diebler’s coaching career and was supportive of his willingness to take on the challenge of taking over a team mid-season.
“I think when you hear the Drew family, for example, really all three of them reached out in their own way and had thoughts and that was really helpful for me,” Diebler said. “Like how I said about my family, just this idea of you got to be yourself and don’t try to be someone else. It certainly means something when you hear that from your family but when you hear something like that from a Scott Drew or Homer Drew or a Bryce Drew, that means something.”
With support like that and an idea of what kind of coach he wants to be, Diebler said there is an opportunity in front of them — six games and a chance to make a run in the Big Ten Tournament — and it’ll be challenging, but they’ve been able to come together and are ready for the road ahead.
“We had a great practice yesterday,” Diebler said. “Our guys were hurting, there’s no question about it, I’m not going to pretend like I can speak upon exactly how they were feeling but there were a lot of different emotions. We were able to rally together and in my opinion, it felt like we won yesterday with a good practice.”
