Potential Ohio State basketball hire could sign extension soon

The Ohio State basketball team is trying to finish the 2023-24 season strong. They are coming off a win at Michigan State that snapped a 17-game road losing streak. Despite this, Jake Diebler will likely not get the job at the end of the year. The Buckeyes will talk to other candidates. One of those candidates is supposedly Creighton coach Greg McDermott.

McDermott was recently asked about the Ohio State job and seemed to shoot down any interest. He made it seem like he was more comfortable staying in Omaha than moving to Columbus. The Buckeyes will pay top-dollar to the right candidate though and McDermott knows that. It seems like McDermott is using the Buckeyes as leverage.

Greg McDermott eschewing the Ohio State basketball program and working on signing an extension to stay at Creighton

McDermott is reportedly close to signing an extension. That means he used some chatter about him leaving for Columbus a second time and parlayed it into a nice payday. I can’t blame him for that if that ends up being the case. That’s just a smart business move, especially if he had no real interest in Ohio State.

The Buckeyes have been in talks with Dusty May, but there are a couple of other guys they’d like to talk to as well. Those talks will likely happen more once the Ohio State basketball team finishes the season. That way, Ross Bjork has a full evaluation of what Diebler was able to do while he was the interim head coach.

I still think May is the best candidate out there. If they don’t end up pursuing May or he decides he’s not interested, Lamont Paris is a good option too. Chris Jent and Scoonie Penn, both former Ohio State Buckeyes, have voiced interest in the job as well. I don’t think it would be smart to hire either of them though.

Ohio State has to get this hire right. They need more juice from this basketball program next season.