Oller: Ohio State happy Jake Diebler finally answered after hearing the call to coach
Hearing the call to become a basketball coach never was difficult for Jake Diebler. Answering it was, because sometimes the worldly noise inside his head drowned out the dream.
Diebler grew up speaking basketball as a second language. His father, Keith, won more than 300 games coaching at northwest Ohio high schools, including coaching Jake and brother Jon to a Division II state championship at Upper Sandusky in 2005. Hoops were so ingrained in the family vocabulary that at the Diebler dinner table, it was “please pass the pick and rolls.”
Keith always knew Jake would someday become a coach.
“Even at an early age, back in middle school and even elementary, he was a leader,” Keith said. “I figured eventually he would come around to coaching. It just took some time to understand the impact you can have on people.”
It took more than time. It took a failed medical exam. Call it fate. Call it serendipity. The faith-centered Dieblers prefer to call it part of a providential plan to keep Jake from attending West Point, where his life likely would have gone a different direction.
Had Diebler entered the military, who knows if he would be standing in front of friends and family Monday on the floor of Value City Arena, speaking as the new Ohio State men’s basketball coach? Who knows if he would have met his future wife, Jordyn, in the southwest event-level tunnel of Value City Arena while working as an OSU video coordinator? Who knows if he would be as blessed as he is this very second, married, with three beautiful children and conducting an OSU ensemble of basketball talent, when just over a month ago he was second fiddle.
“I was medically disqualified to serve,” Diebler said of his brief stint with the Cadets. “There were a lot of different things, where you get red-flagged. So I got a letter in the mail that said, basically, you aren’t allowed to go.”
Diebler chose West Point over Harvard, Columbia, Lehigh and Cornell, the Buckeyes’ opponent in Tuesday’s first-round NIT game at Value City Arena. When plans to attend the military academy fell through, he ended up at Valparaiso, where a coaching career was the last thing on his mind. The call to lead and impact others was inside him, but he had put the caller on hold.
“I didn’t go to college to be a coach,” Diebler said. “I saw my dad do it. He was unbelievable at it, but I had these grand visions of owning my own business, and things like that.”
It was during his first year at Valpo that he answered the call, or rather, dialed it.
“My freshman season didn’t go the way I envisioned it would go,” Diebler said. “And I vividly remember picking up the phone and calling my dad and saying, ‘Dad, I have to transfer. (Valparaiso coach) Homer Drew doesn’t like me.’ If you know Homer Drew, he’s like the nicest human on the planet. And my dad said, ‘Don’t ever call me again. You gave him your word. Treat practice like your game.’ ”
Wham.
“In that moment I changed my mentality in college, and went from not really playing at all to being voted by our team as a captain my sophomore year,” Diebler said. “That sparked a leadership quality that I really embraced and enjoyed and valued. Like my dad, I wanted to impact people in a positive way. And coaching seemed like a great vessel for that.”
Boom.
Diebler advanced from Valpo student assistant (2009-10) to director of basketball operations (2010-11) to assistant coach under Bryce Drew (2011-12) before leaving for Ohio State, where he served three seasons (2014-16) under Thad Matta as video coordinator, working with Aaron Craft and D’Angelo Russell. He left the Buckeyes to join Bryce Drew at Vanderbilt for three years, then returned to OSU in 2019 as one of Chris Holtmann’s assistants.
Keith was right. It was only a matter of time.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that coaching is teaching, and that’s the call,” Keith said. “It’s all about culture and forming relationships.”
Keith first saw his son's gift of easily relating to others 30 years ago.
Jordyn saw it 10 years ago, “from the second I met him,” she said. “What makes him a great coach is his ability to connect with people. He has that ability to talk to anyone, and not only talk but genuinely communicate.”
New Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork saw it about two weeks ago, when he was blown away by the interim coach’s ability to align people to the same vision.
“You see the way he connects with our current players, with our former players, with our donors,” Bjork said. “All of those things just stand out in a meaningful way. It’s not fake.”
But can he coach? Diebler’s 6-2 record as interim is such a small sample size that it’s fair to wonder what happens after another 10, 50 and 100 games. It’s one thing to connect with players in the locker room, another to communicate in the huddle when the Buckeyes trail by 10 with five minutes to play. Or lead by three with five seconds left. And how well can Diebler deliver the tough-love message that mediocre won’t cut it at Ohio State?
Time will tell, but there is something to be said for hiring a 37-year-old straight shooter who feels called not only to coach, but to coach at Ohio State. Diebler will give everything he has, and is, to make this program successful. To make these players successful.
Among the greatest lines in any sports movie comes from “Hoosiers,” when Hickory High coach Norman Dale tells his players, “I love you guys.”
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Diebler cares deeply.
“I got into coaching because the most influential people in my life were coaches,” he said. “I still believe in the influence coaches can have on young men. That’s why I do what I do.”
Ohio State’s new coach wants to give back and pay forward. He also wants to win. It’s easy to believe he will. After all, in many ways he already has.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jake Diebler was born to coach Ohio State basketball
