The Ohio State basketball team decided to hire Jake Diebler when it fired Chris Holtmann two and a half years ago. Diebler was an assistant coach who helped the Buckeyes play well while he was the interim, coming just short of earning an NCAA Tournament bid.
Instead of going outside the program for a candidate, Ross Bjork and the Ohio State Buckeyes thought it was a good idea to allow Diebler to be a first-time head coach. John Calipari mentioned that he wanted to coach Ohio State, but the timing wasn't right. Now, he's got Arkansas playing like a Final Four threat.
A win against TCU in his first NCAA Tournament game would have gone a long way for Ohio State fans to finally accept Diebler as a good coach. Instead, the Buckeyes fell down 15 points in the first half and lost 66-64 after a horrible final play was drawn up.
The Ohio State basketball program needs a proven winner as a coach
On that final play, Diebler decided to let Bruce Thornton have the ball in his hands, despite him having his worst game of the year. Not only that, but they didn't try to set any screens for him or help him get downhill in any meaningful way. That kind of coaching is why the Buckeyes lost this game.
Ohio State clearly needs a coach who is not uncomfortable in these big moments. While Diebler does deserve credit for making great second-half adjustments, he wouldn't have needed to do that if the team had played better in the first half. Even worse, Ohio State was awful in close games all year long.
Close losses to Pitt, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, and now TCU show that Diebler simply can't coach in the clutch. It's highly unlikely that Bjork will do anything about it in the offseason, though. Diebler likely will last at least one more year because of the fact that he made the NCAA Tournament this year.
Next year will likely see more of the same from the Buckeyes.