Ohio State's Jake Diebler, Ross Bjork recap 'emotionally wild' day culminating with job
Jake Diebler arrived in Columbus in desperate need of some sleep.
Friday night, Ohio State’s Big Ten Tournament experience came to a close with a three-point quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Illinois inside the Target Center in Minneapolis. It brought to an end the latest stretch of a frenetic close to the 2023-24 season, one as dramatic as any in recent memory. The game was the eighth with Diebler as interim coach after a surprise, midseason promotion, and the hours were clearly showing on the face of the program’s leader.
The to-do list didn’t get any shorter with the loss as the Buckeyes had to grapple with a pending NIT invitation and Monday’s looming opening of the transfer portal as well as the long-term uncertainty of who would continue to coach. Diebler’s hope for Saturday was to catch up on at least a little bit of rest.
That all changed with a phone call from incoming athletic director Ross Bjork, who eventually got around to asking Diebler if he and his wife, Jordyn, were at home.
“(Ross) said, ‘I’ve got to work on a couple things but I’ll connect with you in a little bit,’ ” Diebler said. “There was some anxiousness during that time certainly, but when he said I want to stop by and see you and Jordyn, there were some emotions there. We got excited and like, this could be really happening.”
It did happen, and Monday afternoon Ohio State publicly welcomed Diebler as the head coach of the men’s basketball program. The five-year contract paying him $2.5 million annually was announced Sunday afternoon, but it was finalized Saturday evening inside the Diebler home.
In between that first Saturday call with Bjork and the in-person meeting, though, Diebler said time moved more slowly than normal.
“It felt like it took way longer than it actually did,” he said.
It’s a sentiment that nicely sums up the 31 days between his Feb. 14 elevation to interim coach through Saturday’s unofficial finalization of Diebler’s promotion. As he was guiding the Buckeyes to a 6-2 record while expanding his rotation and keeping the roster intact, Bjork was in a self-described bunker back in Texas getting things going for a coaching search that awaited his first official day on the job.
In all, Bjork said Ohio State spoke with 50 coaches either to gauge their interest or gather more information on potential candidates. Overtures were made, some more serious than others, to coaches from across the country. Once he arrived on campus in early March, in time to see the Buckeyes take down Michigan on March 3 at Value City Arena, Bjork had time to sit down and spend some time with Diebler.
That turned out to be an affirming day for Diebler’s candidacy for the full-time gig.
“I walked out of the room and said, ‘This guy could do the job,’” Bjork said. “There’s no question that he could do the job. He’s got the ability. He’s got the leadership skills. He’s got the connectivity.”
Then he went to a practice that next week. Bjork met with current players and talked with 15 former ones. He noticed Diebler’s practice organization, his energy and his intangibles.
“You kind of know ‘it’ when you see it,” he said of Diebler. “That piece of it really came together over the last couple of weeks.”
This past weekend served as a bit of a milestone for the search process. If the Buckeyes wanted to give themselves their best chance at retaining as many players as possible and avoiding a complete reset of the program, a coaching decision before the NIT was seeded and the portal opened would be prudent.
Bjork said the timing of the hire wasn’t forced by the calendar, but the calendar did help inform the decision to go with Diebler.
“We could’ve waited into April,” he said. “Then we might be standing here with who? With what? With what roster? Did our team play in the NIT? All of those uncertainties were part of the factor that said if he checks the boxes as far as the profile and has the wherewithal, this is our guy. Let’s go.”
The wheels started turning Friday while Bjork was in Minneapolis watching the team in the Big Ten Tournament, but Saturday was the big day. After having spoken with Diebler, Bjork went to the family’s house with Dan Cloran, Ohio State’s executive associate athletic director who oversees the men’s basketball program.
There, in the living room/kitchen area, Bjork asked Jake and Jordyn Diebler: are you ready to be the first family of Ohio State men’s basketball?
“What was really neat, the passion, the spiritual faith, the family, the vision, the energy, all of that was present in that moment on Saturday night,” Bjork said. “That’s what this is about. This is a family. That’s what it means to be a Buckeye.
“That’s when it struck me, this is a calling for Jake Diebler. Saturday night in the living room, in the kitchen, it made this all feel right. I’m so confident in the future of Buckeye basketball.”
Ohio State Buckeyes: How a mantra of 'family' has powered Ohio State's turnaround under Jake Diebler
In his introductory remarks Monday, Diebler thanked Bjork for entrusting him and described the eventual program boss as family. He also said he’s still looking to catch up on that missing sleep.
“Thanks to Ross I didn’t get any more rest,” Diebler said. “In fact, it went the other way. When he came over to our house and this really became real, that was almost exhausting in itself because there was an abundance of joy and happiness. We’re calling our parents. It was special. It was a wild, emotionally wild day.”
That’s just getting started for Diebler.
Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Emotionally wild day' ends with Jake Diebler as Ohio State head coach
