Baylor's Luke Simons joining Jake Diebler's staff as Ohio State assistant coach
Ohio State has hired Baylor’s Luke Simons as an assistant coach.
Simons, a Purdue graduate and Shelbyville, Indiana, native, has spent the last two seasons as director of basketball operations for the Bears. He is the fourth member to be announced as a full-time assistant for coach Jake Diebler, who is building a staff in preparation for his first full season in charge of the Buckeyes.
This is the second year of an NCAA rule change allowing college basketball programs to carry five full-time assistant coaches. Three of them are permitted to be off-campus recruiters, and Simons will be one of the two not tasked with recruiting, joining Dave Dickerson in that regard.
Simons and Diebler have previously worked together. With Bryce Drew as head coach at Vanderbilt from 2016-19, Diebler was an assistant coach and Simons was director of scouting. When Drew was fired following the 2018-19 season, Simons spent two years as director of basketball operations for the College of Charleston and one for Boston College before being hired by Scott Drew, Bryce’s brother, before the 2022-23 season.
He’s not the only coach hired by Diebler with ties to the Drew family. Jamall Walker, hired earlier this week, spent the last four years as an assistant at Grand Canyon, all of which came with Bryce Drew as head coach.
Simons has spent time with Athletes In Action as an international team director and coach. According to his biography, Simons “helped assemble and direct multiple international competitive tours throughout Europe and Asia” and also created the organization’s Captains Academy, which has been attended by multiple former Buckeyes including Keita Bates-Diop, C.J. Jackson and Jae’Sean Tate.
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He has also been an assistant coach and director of player development for the Mongolian National Team from 2012-15, helping guide the team to the final round of the 2015 Asian Games.
Diebler can still hire one more assistant coach. In addition to Dickerson, Simons and Walker, Ohio State has added N.C. State’s Joel Justus as associate head coach.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State basketball: Baylor's Luke Simons joins OSU coaching staff