Ohio State basketball program did the best job possible filling out coaching staff

When Valentine’s Day rolled around, Gene Smith decided that the Ohio State basketball program needed a change. Chris Holtmann had stopped getting a response from the team around him. More than that, he kept making tactical errors during the game. He needed to be let go and a new voice needed to be inserted.

Jake Diebler took over for Holtmann and coached the rest of the season. Despite how bad the team was before he took over, he almost got them into the NCAA Tournament. It was an incredible run. Now, he’s the coach for the entire season. As a first-time head coach, he has a lot to learn. He knew that as he put together his coaching staff.

Ohio State basketball team did the best possible job putting together the coaching staff

Diebler had to put together a new staff to help guide the team into a new era. He has done a very good job of putting it together. He has a coach who has Final Four experience, a former Big Ten player, and much more. Diebler knows what he doesn’t know. That’s an important skill for someone who has never been a head coach before at any level.

The goal is to now use all of this experience that he has put around him to help get the Buckeyes back into the NCAA Tournament. That’s the goal for this program every year and is quite frankly the bare minimum expectation. With the number of resources they have, there’s no reason they should be dancing every year.

Yes, the Big Ten gets bigger this year. Yes, it gets a bit tougher. Still, the talent the Buckeyes were able to add in the offseason should help them achieve their goals. Even though they had to dip into the transfer portal a lot, they should have more overall talent than a year ago.