Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- diebler.11@osu.edu
Jake Diebler was named the program's 15th head coach on March 17, 2024.
The 2025-26 season will be Diebler's 10th season at Ohio State. He was a video coordinator with the program from 2014-16 and then returned as an assistant coach prior to the 2019-20 season. He was promoted to associated head coach before the 2021-22 season, was named interim head coach on Feb. 14, 2024 and then head coach on March 17, 2024.
The first Ohioan to be named Ohio State’s head coach in 35 years, Diebler guided the Buckeyes to a 17-15 overall record and the edge of the NCAA Tournament in his first full season as head coach. Bruce Thornton earned second team All-Big Ten honors while averaging a career-best 17.7 points per game. He had three 30-point games, including one in the win over No. 4 Kentucky at Madison Square Garden. Diebler also helped mold freshman John Mobley Jr., who was second in the Big Ten in 2024-25 with 77 three-pointers.
As interim head coach at the end of the 2023-24 season, Diebler led the Buckeyes to a 6-2 record. The first of those six wins came in his first game as the interim coach and in stunning fashion, over No. 2 Purdue on Feb. 19. Ohio State lost at Minnesota in its next game, but then won five consecutive games: at Michigan State, vs. Nebraska, vs. Michigan, at Rutgers and over Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. Following the Big Ten Tournament, Diebler was named the full time head coach and led the Buckeyes to the quarterfinals of the NIT, recording wins over Cornell and Virginia Tech.
The record during the 2022-23 season wasn't what Diebler, then an assistant coach, and the Buckeyes had hoped, but they were able to see growth from one of the youngest rosters in the country. Freshmen Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr., and Felix Okpara all played valuable minutes throughout the season and were primary contributors in the team’s run at the Big Ten Tournament. Fellow freshman Brice Sensabaugh became the first freshman to lead the team in scoring in eight years and was the program's second-consecutive one-and-done. Sensabaugh earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors and was drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. Â
The 2021-22 season saw the Buckeyes win 20 games and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament following a win over Loyola Chicago. The year also featured a consensus All-American season from junior E.J. Liddell and the rise of eventual NBA first round pick Malaki Branham. Liddell, who earned first team All-Big Ten honors, was the only player in the country to average 19.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 blocks per game. Branham had a tremendous second half of the year and became the eighth Buckeye to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
In his first year as assistant coach at Ohio State in 2019-20, Diebler and the Buckeyes built an overall record of 21-10 with a league mark of 11-9, good enough for a tie for the No 5 spot in the league standings. The Big Ten was considered the best league nationally and the toughest top-to-bottom in perhaps the history of the league in 2020. The 2020 Big Ten Tournament, which, along with the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled following the completion of the Big Ten regular season. The Buckeyes again finished with a 21-10 record in 2020-21 season, which also was shortened by COVID-19. The Buckeyes advanced to the title game of the 2021 Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis after a fifth-place finished in league play (12-8).
Prior to his first stint with the Buckeyes, Jake coached at Valparaiso with Bryce Drew, where he was part of a staff which helped lead Valparaiso to 22 wins and the regular-season championship in 2012, the first by Valpo since joining the Horizon League. Diebler, who also worked for Drew at Vanderbilt, helped the Crusaders to a berth in the 2012 Postseason National Invitation Tournament. In the 2012-13 season, the Crusaders posted a 26-8 overall record, won the Horizon League regular-season championship for consecutive years, and a berth in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Diebler served as director of basketball operations during the 2010-11 season, helping the Crusaders to a 23-win season.
Familiar with the Ohio State program after spending three years as the Buckeyes’ video coordinator (2014-16) and watching his brother Jon become the all-time 3-point record holder at both Ohio State and in Big Ten history (2008-11), Diebler returned to Ohio where he starred as a high school player in Upper Sandusky.
Jon is the second leading scorer in Ohio High School basketball history (3,208). Jake holds the all-time Ohio high school career records in both assists (835) and steals (578).
While at Ohio State in the role of video coordinator, Diebler helped the Buckeyes advance to two NCAA Tournaments and also helped mentor Aaron Craft, the 2014 National Defensive Player of the Year, and D’Angelo Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in 2015 NBA Draft and 2015 First-Team All-American.
As a player at Valparaiso, Diebler ranked among the Horizon League Top 10 in a trio of categories as a senior, finishing fourth in minutes played (33.8/game), sixth in 3-pointers made (1.8/game) and eighth in steals (1.3/game). He finished his Crusader career 10th with 130 career steals and 16th all-time at Valpo with 229 career assists.
Also a standout in the classroom, Diebler earned Academic All-League honors and Horizon League Academic Honor Roll mention during his career, as well as being named to the NABC Honors Court. Diebler graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Valparaiso in May 2009 and with an MBA in 2011.
Coaching runs in the family for Diebler. His father Keith, coached high school basketball in the state of Ohio for almost 40 years, while his older brother Jeremiah coached high school basketball as well. His younger brother, Jon, is currently the director of recruiting at Butler University.
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Jake and his wife, the former Jordyn Ellwood, from Columbus and an Ohio State graduate, have two young daughters, Jaymes and Jessa as well as two young sons, Jackson and Julien.
2024-Present -- Ohio State Head Coach
2024 – (11 games) Ohio State Interim Head Coach
2022-2024 – (2 years) Ohio State Associate Head Coach
2019-2022 – (3 years) Ohio State Assistant Coach
2016-2019 – (3 years) Vanderbilt Assistant Coach
2013-2016 – (3 years) Ohio State Video Coordinator
2011-2013 – (2 years) Valparaiso Assistant Coach
2010-2011 – (1 year) Valparaiso Director of Operations
2009-2010 – (1 year) Valparaiso Graduate Assistant
