Ohio State has announced promotions for four members of its men's basketball coaching staff.
Jake Diebler, who will enter his fourth season with the Buckeyes in 2022-23, has officially been named associate head coach under Chris Holtmann. The Buckeye head coach has held firm that Diebler would be promoted into the top assistant coaching role on his staff following the departure of Ryan Pedon, his longest-tenured assistant, who accepted the head coaching vacancy at Illinois State in early March.
Diebler, the defensive coordinator for the Buckeyes this past season after longtime Holtmann assistant Terry Johnson departed for Purdue last offseason, will also take over Pedon's role as offensive coordinator for Ohio State this year.
“I’m blessed to be able to continue to serve coach Holtmann and the Ohio State basketball program,” Diebler said in an Ohio State release. “This is a great opportunity for me to continue to learn from and grow alongside one of the very best in college basketball. My family and I love Ohio State, the city of Columbus, and are looking forward to working with this year’s team. Exciting things are ahead for the Buckeyes, and I can’t wait to get started with Team 124 this summer!”
Mike Netti, who has spent the past five years as special assistant to the head coach at Ohio State, will now be an assistant coach following the departures of Pedon and Tony Skinn this offseason. Before joining Holtmann's staff in 2017, Netti spent four years as an assistant at East Carolina, and was also an assistant on Holtmann's staff at Gardner-Webb for three seasons prior to that.
“Mike has earned this promotion with his outstanding work here for the past five seasons as the assistant to the head coach,” Holtmann said. “Mike is a coaching veteran who has been a junior college head coach, a high major assistant as well as working in nearly every aspect of a college basketball staff. Mike has great contacts across the country and is terrific at skill and player development. We are excited about this new role for him.”
The move comes a month after the Buckeyes hired former Miami (Ohio) head coach Jack Owens to take the place of Skinn, who left Ohio State after just one season to join Kevin Willard's staff at Maryland. Owens previously spent nine years on staff at Purdue before taking the RedHawk head coaching job in 2017.
Netti had already been on the recruiting trail for the Buckeyes over the past several weeks, appearing at an in-home visits alongside Holtmann, Diebler and Owens and attending the second session of Nike EYBL action in Indianapolis at the end of April.
#GoBucks https://t.co/TPmpb7RYEJ
— Devin Royal (@DevinRoyal7) April 21, 2022
Ohio States Mike Netti here in Indy watching All-Ohio Red on the second day of EYBL action: pic.twitter.com/8jkICNgsAI
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) April 23, 2022
“I’m so grateful to Coach Holtmann for his trust in me and honored to have the opportunity in this role on our staff,” Netti said in the program release. “He and I have worked closely for almost 20 years, building programs, building relationships, and investing in our players. He has made me a better coach and I’ve benefited from his leadership. I was fortunate to have worked with outstanding coaches and staff in my time here and they have been so instrumental in this process as well. I’m excited and motivated to continue building on this rich tradition and I’m thrilled for the future we have in Columbus.”
Six-year video coordinator Kyle Davis will now become Ohio State's director of recruiting and branding ahead of his seventh year with the program, and Robbie Rucki – formerly a seventh-year program assistant – will assume Davis's old post as video coordinator.
