Ohio State basketball program will have to fight for new coach

The Ohio State basketball program has had a jolt of energy pushed into it since Chris Holtmann was fired. Jake Diebler has gone 4-1 as the interim head coach and has one more game left in the regular season. If he can beat Rutgers, he’ll finish the season 5-1 and have won two road games. That’s more road games than Holtmann had won in the last 13+ months he was on the job.

Even so, that may not be enough to guarantee him the job. The Buckeyes may go in a different direction at the end of the season. Ross Bjork has already been in talks with FAU coach Dusty May about the position. Recent reports indicated that he is the favorite to get the gig. But the Ohio State Buckeyes might have to fight for him.

The Ohio State basketball program might have to fight another program to hire Dusty May

May’s buyout at FAU isn’t prohibitive for the Buckeyes, so that’s not an issue. What could be an issue is the Indiana Hoosiers. If they decide to fire alum Mike Woodson, they will go after May as their first choice. May would jump at the chance to coach at IU again. He coached under Bob Knight. He went to high school in Indiana. It would be his dream job.

In that case, Ohio State might have to pivot to someone else. I don’t see them throwing a ton of money in a bidding war for May with Holtmann’s buyout as high as it is. They just have to hope that IU decides to let Woodson have one more year. That would all but guarantee the Buckeyes an opportunity to hire May.

Of course, Diebler still could have something to say about this. If he takes this Ohio State basketball team to the NCAA Tournament, Bjork will have no choice but to offer him the job. That would be a turnaround unlike any we’ve ever seen in Columbus. He’s going to fight like hell to make sure that happens.