JAKE DIEBLER MADE UP FOR LACK OF EXPERIENCE WITH LEADERSHIP TRAITS, RECRUITING ABILITY AND AUTHENTICITY FOR OHIO STATE AD ROSS BJORK

In the early days of Ohio State’s basketball coaching search, Ross Bjork let it be known that experience mattered in finding the right fit for the program.

Jake Diebler, outside of the month he served in an interim capacity before being named the Buckeyes’ full-time head coach on Sunday, has none as a head coach.

In other words, Bjork must have been sold on all of Diebler’s other qualities in building a program sustainable for long-term success. He made as much clear at the coach’s introductory press conference on Monday.

“He’s the real deal,” Bjork said. “He knows how to live at the highest level of college basketball, he’s seen it in action. So to me that made up for the lack of long-term head coaching experience, because he just fits with where we are in this program right now.”
Diebler’s authenticity, long-term plan, leadership traits and recruiting ability convinced Bjork that he’s the man to lead Ohio State forward as it tries to compete to, in his words, “cut down nets.”

“This isn’t just five weeks, this is a long-term vision and do you have a plan? Are you prepared to make the kind of adjustments that we need to make, knowing that we have a really good foundation,” Bjork said. “That’s through conversation. You test that willpower that he has. And again, people are born to do this and there’s innate leadership abilities that you see manifest in conversations, in interactions. The way he carried himself in the media, he never made it about self-preservation, that he’s doing everything to manipulate it to get the job. He was doing everything, ‘What’s best for the program in this time?’”

Bjork sees some of himself in Diebler.

When Bjork landed his first athletic director job at Western Kentucky in 2010, he was just 37 years old. People questioned if he was ready for the opportunity given his age, but he’s gone on to become one of the most prominent athletic directors in college sports, making stops at Ole Miss and Texas A&M before arriving at Ohio State.

Diebler, being from Northwest Ohio – the “419” as the coach put it – and the son of an Ohio high school basketball coach has thought of this opportunity since a young age.

“He’s over prepared because he’s been dreaming about this for a long, long time,” Bjork said. “I think I was 37 when I became an AD. Jake, how old are you?”

“37,” Diebler said.