The belief of Ohio State’s administration and former players in Jake Diebler was on full display at his introductory press conference on Monday.
Outgoing athletic director Gene Smith and incoming athletic director Ross Bjork both expressed how impressed they were with the way Diebler led Ohio State over the past month as interim coach and how they believe his authenticity, relatability and leadership skills will make him the right coach to lead the Ohio State men’s basketball program back to the level where it should be.
Some of the program’s top players of the past several decades were inside the Schottenstein Center for Monday’s press conference as well, including the likes of Michael Redd, Aaron Craft, Lawrence Funderburke, Brad Sellers and Ron Stokes, to name a few. Their support of Diebler as a candidate played a big role in Diebler’s promotion to head coach, and they expressed Monday that they think Diebler’s ability to connect with both the program’s past as well as current and future players can help the Buckeyes become a championship contender again.
After hearing what all of them had to say, Eleven Warriors’ Dan Hope and Andy Anders shared their initial takeaways from the press conference in a new episode of Press Coverage, which you can watch in the video above.
