While Ohio State prepares for a critical trip to the Big Ten Tournament this week, the search for its next full-time basketball coach continues methodically unfolding in the background.
A small selection of names, mostly coaches that won’t be available for complete conversation until after their current team’s season concludes, have started emerging at the top of the Buckeyes’ wish list.
Xavier’s Sean Miller and Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May have been heavily connected to the opening since Chris Holtmann was fired. Another candidate who’s started to emerge is Alabama’s Nate Oats. Interim head coach Jake Diebler has made enough noise that, at least in fan circles, many are calling for him to get an earnest look at the full-time job.
Incoming athletic director Ross Bjork is leading the search and undoubtedly wants to make a statement with his first major hire. Different statements could be made with each of those four names listed above. Each comes with potential risks and rewards, benefits and drawbacks – pros and cons, if you will.
Dusty May
It’s been more than two weeks since the Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohio State was in preliminary talks with May for its coaching position. Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman has since reported that May is “at the top” of Ohio State’s list.
Talking now about my thought that Dusty May will land at Ohio State. https://t.co/vmPpAcaoWD
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 4, 2024
The Buckeyes got a likely boost in their pursuit of May when the Indianapolis Star reported that Indiana head coach Mike Woodson will still be at the helm of the Hoosiers in 2024-25. May is an Indiana alum, which would have made the Hoosiers were a leading candidate for his services if they pursued him.
A recent report indicated that LeBron James is lobbying support to bring May to Ohio State, though May has since said in an interview he’s “not sure where that came from.”
Pros
May is perhaps the hottest rising name on the coaching carousel this offseason, having taken Florida Atlantic on a shocking Final Four run in 2023 and followed it up with a 24-7 record thus far this year. With a reputation as a player’s coach, there’s a chance May could make some headway in retaining pieces already on Ohio State’s roster. His Owls teams have also been prolific offensively, ranking top 15 in the country in points per 100 possessions in each of the past two seasons.
Cons
The top one here is that May has never held a high-major job, seemingly a drawback for some Ohio State boosters behind the scenes. He’s only been a head coach for six years in total and his best recruiting classes have hardly cracked the top-100 nationally.
Sean Miller
Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY Network
The Dispatch reported four days ago that May and Miller are the two names being discussed most for the job, and Eleven Warriors has heard from its sources that Miller has drawn serious consideration for the position.
Pros
Miller is the most experienced candidate on this list, boasting a career record of 457-175 across 19 seasons as a head basketball coach. This includes eight Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, though he’s never been to a Final Four. At Arizona, he attracted marquee five-star talents like DeAndre Ayton, Aaron Gordon, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Nico Mannion, among others, consistently signing top-10 recruiting classes.
Cons
Miller found the recruiting success he did with the Wildcats partly because he and his staff orchestrated illegal payments to athletes to attend his school, putting him at the center of an FBI investigation as part of the 2017 NCAA basketball corruption scandal. Yes, under the current framework of NIL, players now earn money in legal ways to attend schools, but Arizona’s NCAA violations under his watch resulted in the Wildcats getting almost two seasons' worth of wins vacated.
Miller’s recent results are also the worst of anyone on this list. Xavier, where he returned in 2022 after previously serving as its head coach from 2004 through 2009 before taking the Arizona job, isn’t making the NCAA Tournament this year without winning the Big East Tournament. The Musketeers are 15-16 this season after going 27-10 and making the Sweet 16 a year ago.
Nate Oats
A source told Eleven Warriors on Monday that Oats is emerging alongside May and Miller as a candidate for the job. Oats won’t decide on his future and whether he wants to stay with Alabama until after the season, but with Bjork’s SEC connections, the interest from Ohio State’s side makes a lot of sense.
Pros
Oats joins Miller as the only other candidate listed here with high-major experience, taking the Crimson Tide from a middling 16-15 record his first season to the No. 1 overall seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. His teams made the Sweet 16 two of the past three seasons and have featured some of the nation’s best offenses, leading the country in points per game this year. Alabama signed the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class in 2022, with top-20 classes in 2021 and 2023. Oats even has a bit of Midwestern ties, winning three MAC titles at Buffalo.
Cons
Oats has been inconsistent at developing his teams defensively. The Tide were No. 7 in points allowed per 100 possessions last season but have fallen to 285th this year. They were 265th in 2021-22 but 26th in 2020-21.
Off the court, Oats drew criticism for his comments after one of his former players, Darius Miles, was charged with capital murder in January 2023. Asked about the alleged involvement of Brandon Miller, Alabama’s star player at the time, in bringing a gun to Miles that was used in the shooting, Oats said that Miller was in the “wrong spot at the wrong time.” He also drew scrutiny for saying he reached out to former NFL linebacker Ray Lewis, who was charged with two counts of murder in 2000 before those charges were dismissed, after the shooting. He later apologized for his comments on Miller.
Jake Diebler
Diebler is inching closer and closer to being a realistic candidate to become the full-time head coach after winning five of six games since taking over for Chris Holtmann. But that could depend on whether Ohio State can make a run in the Big Ten Tournament this week that gets the Buckeyes into the NCAA Tournament.
It was always going to take a lot for Diebler to get a look. He's never held a head coaching job and a new athletic director is coming in that will want to make a splash. That said, Diebler is raising some eyebrows, even among program donors. There are arguments for keeping him around.
Pros
Diebler, thus far, has the look of someone who’s done a much better job maximizing the talent on Ohio State’s roster than Holtmann. The team is playing with more aggression, rolling more depth, staying stingier on defense and running out in transition much more. And if Diebler did win the job, there’s no doubt a lot of the players on Ohio State’s roster would strongly consider sticking around rather than transferring. So Diebler would get a chance to maximize them again.
Under Holtmann, Diebler was the lead recruiter among Ohio State’s assistant coaches and a major reason why the Buckeyes signed the nation’s No. 8 recruiting classes in 2022 and 2023. Holtmann was still leading the charge then, however.
Cons
The fact remains Diebler has never been a full-time head coach anywhere. The emotional high from winning five of his first six games as interim coach is real for fans, but administrators need more proof than six games for a job of Ohio State’s caliber. Recruiting on a one-year prove-it deal would be an uphill battle, so the Buckeyes would likely need to take the risk of giving Diebler a long-term contract despite being unproven.
There’s just so much unknown that goes into hiring someone bereft of a head coaching background compared to more experienced options like Oats, Miller and May. And if a rebuild is to begin with one of those names or someone similar, it’s better to start it as soon as possible.
