Ohio State adds former head coach to basketball coaching staff

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Ohio State basketball head coach Jake Diebler has added a veteran presence to his first coaching staff.

The school announced Monday the hiring of Dave Dickerson, a former head coach who will join the Ohio State program as an assistant after leading South Carolina Upstate for the last six seasons.

“Dave Dickerson is a respected, veteran coach, and I am excited that he is rejoining the Ohio State family,” Diebler said of a man who was an assistant at Ohio State for Thad Matta from 2010-17. “He was not only a part of some of the most successful teams in Ohio State history, but he also brings head coaching experience that will be invaluable as we continue to take the next step as a program.”

A South Carolina native, the 56-year-old Dickerson went 65-117 as head coach at USC Upstate after posting a 68-84 mark in five seasons as head coach at Tulane.

During Dickerson’s time at Ohio State, the Buckeyes won 181 games, two Big Ten titles and made three Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight run in 2013 and the 2012 Final Four.

He was a captain for head coach Gary Williams at Maryland in 1989 and later spent nine seasons as an assistant for the Terrapins.

Dickerson has also been an assistant at Gardner-Webb, James Madison and Redford.

The 37-year-old Diebler was named head coach of the Buckeyes last week after he steadied the program as interim coach in place of Chris Holtmann to finish the regular season.

This is Diebler’s first head coach job, but he has been a full-time assistant at Ohio State since 2019.

He was also a member of the OSU support staff from 2014-16, overlapping with Dickerson’s time in Columbus, and worked at Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.

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