Ohio State Buckeyes Coach Jake Diebler Ready to Lead Team Full-Time

The Ohio State Buckeyes are building a new team with Jake Diebler at the helm.

Jake Diebler is ready to take off with whatever Ohio State team he has. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

Jake Diebler kicked off a new era of Ohio State Buckeyes basketball in mid-February with six regular season games left.

He ended up winning five of those six, clinching an automatic second round berth in the Big Ten Tournament and advancing to the quarterfinals.

The season may have come up short for Ohio State standards, but Diebler has already made moves to advance the Buckeyes’ NCAA Tournament chances for next season.

Mar 26, 2024; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Jake Diebler motions to his team / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

“I wanted people to feel the urgency and aggressiveness that fits my personality and how we’re gonna be playing moving forward,” Diebler said on 97.1 The Fan’s “Rothman and Ice” Wednesday. “But I thought that was important to give our guys the best chance to be successful there down the stretch of the season. I had a great deal of conviction behind that.”

Diebler followed up with how “fluid” his roster has been thus far. Ohio State has lost freshman guard Scotty Middleton, as well as sophomore guards Bowen Hardman and Roddy Gayle Jr. to the transfer portal in the last week.

“The beautiful thing about this program is it’s going to attract good players who want to win for Ohio State as priority. We’re looking for that in the portal,” Diebler said. “We feel like we want to play at that place. There’s a skill and feel and things required to do that. We’re looking at that, too. But a lot of it is putting the pieces of the puzzle together that’s going to be changing.”

In addition to the three players lost to the portal, the Buckeyes are losing graduating seniors Jamison Battle and Dale Bonner, both of whom gave big minutes to Diebler down the stretch.

However, he will be returning three other key players; namely, sophomore guard Bruce Thornton, sophomore forward Felix Okpara, and freshman forward Devin Royal. That “aggressiveness” Diebler talked about also allowed a return for junior guard Meechie Johnson Jr. to Columbus.

Diebler spoke on incoming freshman Colin White and Juni Mobley, who are expected to have a big impact on the program.

They want Ohio State to win at the highest level. That’s a very, very important quality,” Diebler said. “You look at the history of this program. That’s the mentality that really sets it up to be one of the premier programs across the country. I love that about those guys. Two tough guys.”

The now full-time head coach concluded with his excitement about next season with a pretty new all-around team and the hope to make a run in conference play and the postseason tournament.

We have big expectations for this program. We’re attacking those head-on, and we’re not afraid of those,” Diebler said. “But there are no guarantees in this. I feel like we are off to a great start as far as building the team. I’m excited. I wish we could get to work tomorrow.”

With what will be a fresh lineup off the get-go, Diebler can be confident in his own coaching abilities and manner to carry a culture, growing up as a Buckeye fan himself.