Press Coverage: Ross Bjork, former Buckeye players have championship expectations for Jake Diebler
Welcome inside bottenstein Center where Jake debler was just introduced as the new head coach of Ohio State’s men’s basketball program we got to hear from Jake debler got to hear from Ross Bor uh we’re able to talk to some former players here as well Andy just what are
Your biggest takeaways from today yeah uh you know I I think for all the doubts about uh experience with Jake about that some fans may have I think uh for at least Ross buor I took away how confident he was that this is the right move for Ohio State because of uh what
He feels is Jake’s leadership ability in interviews what he’s shown through these eight games as interim head coach um now full-time head coach obviously that interim tags have dropped but what he shown in those first eight games uh and you know I I think the uh there’s a lot
Of support from former players is the indication we got for this move uh that Jake his his ability to relate to people to owners to those former players to his current players getting them maximizing their talents and that relatability piece I think is a big reason of why he
Was able to land this job and why he could be successful at it Dan you know there’s there’s a lot to uh be seen with Jake as as he’s going to navigate his first off season and as he’s going to prepare for his first full season as
Head coach but you know I I I think there was clearly a lot of confidence from Ross bork’s side about this hire yeah and I was able to talk to Michael red Lawrence funderberg Brad sers Ronnie Stokes who were among about 15 or 20 former players here Aaron Craft was here
As well uh and you got theend from all of them too that they are very happy about this hire you know a lot of them have known Jake debler for a long time because Jake debler has had multiple stints in this program as an assistant of course his younger brother John
Debler played for the Buckeye so the debler family is very well known by people who have been around this program and I think that makes them very comfortable of Jake and the thing you consistently hear about Jake is how authentic he is that he’s a guy uh he
Loves his family uh he talked about his faith today I think he’s somebody who’s very grounded in who he is and I think that’s something that people really appreciate about Jake is you know he’s someone who doesn’t come across like he’s trying to be somebody he’s not he’s
Just trying to be who he is and and Ross Bor in Ohio State believes that him just being who he is is is what this program needs and they feel like his the lack of experience he might have might be made up for by the fact that he is a younger
Guy who can really relate to the players and they’ve made it clear you know their expectation is to win a championship you know I asked Ross bork you know what’s the standard here and he thinks Ohio State should be contending for Big 10 championships every year and if they’re
Doing that they’re going to be in the NCA tournament and have a chance to make a run here so they’ve made it clear you know the expectations are nothing less than the highest of success with Jake dber yeah that you know uh Jake made it clear too that he’s in alignment with
Ross on those expectations said specifically that Ohio state is the best of the best from an Athletics perspective and he’s going to do everything in his power to get the basketball program to align with that expectation so both an acknowledgement that Ohio State hasn’t been where it
Needs to be in terms of basketball the last few seasons and that Jake is going to do everything he can to get it going um his approach I I think that we’ve seen these first eight games from him as a coach uh is what what his approach is
Going to look like long-term too when you talk about really building it around the connection that he facilitates through that authenticity to his players um I think that’s what’s made him he’s been a very successful recruiter as an as an assistant coach even back before his time at Ohio State you know helped
Helped recruit Darius Garland for for you Cavs fans out there I’m sure you’re familiar with that name uh but also you know at Ohio State helped Chris was Chris holtman’s lead recruiter Landing backtack number eight recruiting classes in the country uh and and that relatability that that uh recruiting
Ability is obviously going to serve him well in this head coaching role but then building that community that family you know as he described it within the program is going to get the most out of his players and team chemistry is very important in basketball Dan you know uh
This is a sport where a lot of possessions everyone’s touching the ball you’re moving it around so um that is a culture that can be very helpful to build within a program and I think that’s a lot of what Jake is going to base it around not a lot of specific
Talk about yet because they still have more season to play here uh we we did get some uh clarification in terms of Staff movement uh with Jack Owens Chris Holman saying Jack Owens is going to be joining him at the poll in his own press conference today over there um so that
Just uh but as Jake looks to build this program out here um maximizing his own strengths uh trying to figure out where he can address his weaknesses on the staff is going to be important and in getting that family fire well as you can see behind us they’re getting the court
Ready for an nit game here at bot tomorrow night so we got to get out of here but stay tuned to us on 11 warriors.com we will have a lot more coverage to come of Jake debler being hired as Ohio State’s new head coach
Eleven Warriors’ Dan Hope and Andy Anders share their takeaways from Jake Diebler’s introductory press conference at Ohio State, where incoming athletic director Ross Bjork and former Buckeye players both expressed their confidence in Diebler to lead the Buckeyes to championships.
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