Ohio State basketball program hires a new associate head coach

The Ohio State basketball program is still competing in the NIT. They'll take on Georgia on Tuesday night in the Schott in the third round. Despite the Buckeyes still playing basketball, Jake Diebler is busy filling out his staff for next season when he's the head man for a full year.

Diebler's experience that he is getting in the NIT is extremely valuable for him moving forward. He gets some experience coaching in a do-or-die situation. While it's not quite March Madness, it's still a good thing to get some practice with. A new guy they hired for next year has plenty of experience with that.

Reportedly, the Buckeyes have hired Dave Dickerson as their associate head coach. Dickerson was on Thad Matta's staff from 2010-2017, so he has experience with the Buckeyes. Since 2017, he has been the head coach of USC Upstate, so he's got head coaching experience too.

I think this is an excellent hire. Not only does Diebler get someone who was on staff during the Ohio State basketball program's most successful era of time since the '60s, but that same guy has experience being a head coach. He can help Diebler navigate something for the first time.

With Diebler being a first-time head coach, he's going to need a lot of help from his assistant coaches. Dickerson is the perfect guy to help him with some tough decisions during games that he may not have a lot of experience doing. He could help figure out when the right decision to call timeouts is. Or figure out if fouling down three is the right call. Little things like that.

I would expect Diebler to get more involved with filling out his staff once Ohio State's run in the NIT is over, whenever that is. I fully expect to bring his brother over from Butler to be on his staff as well.