Jake Diebler opens up on if his approach changes as the full-time head coach

Jake Diebler has been with the Ohio State program since 2019 as an assistant coach before taking over as the interim after the Buckeyes moved on from Chris Holtmann. Now, after performing well during that time, he’s been named the next full-time head coach at Ohio State.

Now, Diebler shared that he doesn’t know what will change as the full-time coach, as he’s never held the role before. However, he does know that what drives him and his approach aren’t going to change.

“It’s hard to speak on something that I haven’t experienced yet,” Jake Diebler said. “But I will say this, what drives me is to serve this program as best as I possibly can. That’s not going to change. It’s not going to change once we’re able to win a championship. It’s not going to change when we go through adversity. It’s not going to be different five years from now or however much longer I’m able to serve.”

In his eight games as the interim head coach at Ohio State, Diebler went 6-2. That included an upset win over Purdue. Now, Diebler will turn his attention to trying to win a championship.

“So, why I do it, and what motivates me, my foundation is set and that’s my faith and my family,” Diebler said. “But, why I do it — our former players are always going to be here, and that’s motivation to me. Time will change things, certainly, but the motivation behind how we’re going to take this program to where it belongs will not.”

Ryan Day advises Ohio State men’s basketball coach Jake Diebler on transition from assistant to HC

Similar to Jake Diebler, head football coach Ryan Day transitioned from assistant to head coach. Now, he’s shared some advice for the new basketball coach.

“Congratulations to [Jake] and his family. I was able to go over the press conference and thought he did a great job stepping in a tough spot this year and excited to see what that looks like going forward. But I think what you have to do is you just have to trust who you are. You have to learn from your experiences. And you know, you aren’t starting from scratch. I think that’s the thing as I look back on that experience for me. You know, there were guys on staff that were already here,” Day said.

“But then there were other things you had to change. There were already players there in place that you had to continue what was working, but you had to identify the things you had to improve on.”