Ohio State Announces Jake Diebler As Assistant Coach On Chris Holtmann's Staff

By Colin Hass-Hill on April 22, 2019 at 3:59 pm
Jake Diebler
10 Comments

Jake Diebler is officially returning to his home state.

Ohio State announced Chris Holtmann has hired Diebler as an assistant coach on Monday. The Diebler hire was reported earlier this week.

Diebler will effectively replace Mike Schrage, who left Butler to head to Ohio State with Holtmann but was hired as Elon's head coach two weeks ago. Terry Johnson and Ryan Pedon will be on the staff with Diebler.

Jake Diebler as a Coach
Year Team Duty
2009-10 Valparaiso Student Assistant
2010-11 Valparaiso Director of Operations
2011-13 Valparaiso Assistant Coach
2013-16 Ohio State Video Coordinator
2016-19 Vanderbilt Assistant Coach
2019-Present Ohio State Assistant Coach

“We are excited about the addition of Jake Diebler to our staff,” Holtmann said in a statement. “Jake was highly recommended by those he has worked for as well as by many of our former players who are now playing professionally. I appreciated several of them reaching out to recommend him during this process. Jake has shown the ability to recruit at a high level, teach and develop players and his work ethic is highly regarded. His Ohio roots and ties also were important in this process. The Diebler name certainly brings back great memories and I know Jake will work extremely hard to create more in the future.”

From 2013 to 2016, Diebler worked under Thad Matta as a video coordinator at Ohio State. In those three seasons, he worked with D'Angelo Russell and Aaron Craft, and he held offseason workouts for Evan Turner, Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Jared Sullinger and others. He also helped train his brother, Jon.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Coach Holtmann and his staff at THE Ohio State University,” Diebler said in a statement. “I have admired this staff’s work over the last few years and have grown to know them to be one of the best in the country.

“Our family has roots that run deep in Ohio and at Ohio State, which makes this mean that much more to us. It’s truly a blessing to be a part of such a prestigious university and athletics community, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Diebler has five seasons of experience as an assistant coach, beginning with a two-year stint under Bryce Drew at Valparaiso for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. After spending three years in Columbus, Diebler was once again hired by Drew and worked under him at Vanderbilt for three seasons.

Though assignment have not been announced, Schrage led opponent scouting and had success on the recruiting trail, which will likely be Diebler's duties. Pedon is the assistant in charge of the offense, and Johnson coordinates the defense.

10 Comments
View 10 Comments