Jake Diebler replacements for Ohio State after that disasterclass final play vs. TCU

It's bad enough that Ohio State bowed out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to TCU, their fourth straight season without a single win in March. But the way they lost was particularly disheartening.

After a furious second half rally erased a 15-point deficit, the Buckeyes gave up a go-ahead layup with 4.3 seconds remaining, offering one more chance to either win the game or at least force overtime. Instead, head coach Jake Diebler drew up ... this.

Bruce Thornton is a tremendous player, but not even he is going to be able to manufacture a halfway decent shot while trying to go the length of the floor without the benefit of a single ball screen — with an entire defense keyed on him. Then again, that's a pretty apt metaphor for Jake Diebler's tenure at the helm of this program: Periods of gorgeous offense undone by a lack of premium talent and some frustrating disorganization.

Diebler is, by all accounts, a great guy, an Ohio native who's been a coach in Columbus since 2019. But the Buckeyes are too storied a program to sacrifice themselves in the name of being nice. And at this point, after another mediocre season and precious little momentum in recruiting, it feels safe to say that Diebler simply isn't the man to get this program back to the heights it reached under Thad Matta.

Which shouldn't be too big a surprise; after all, he offered very little evidence that he was ready for a job like this when Ohio State lifted the interim tag following a spirited end to the 2023-24 season. This is not a feeder program; it has as much tradition and as many resources as everyone but the bluest of blue bloods, and it's time to start acting like it before it's too late. Change is needed, and here are four coaches Ohio State should consider.

TJ Otzelberger, Iowa State

This would be the home-run swing that Ohio State declined to take the last time around. Otzelberger is a Midwestern guy, a Wisconsin native who's spent most of his career in the region. He's been the head man at Iowa State since 2021, guiding the Cyclones to the Sweet 16 in his first year at the helm before steadily building them into one of the most reliable programs in the Big 12.

Otzelberger has done more with less, first at South Dakota State and then in the early years of his tenure in Ames. But he's also proven that he knows how to run a nationally competitive program, ramping up ISU's recruiting apparatus and keeping the team running step for step with the likes of Kansas, Houston and Arizona — no small feat at a place without much history of success and without a ton of in-state talent.

There's a good chance that Otzelberger simply says no; he's a made man in Ames, and he's already running a top-10 program in a (relatively) stable power conference. That said, the Big 12 is not the Big Ten, and Ohio State's money cannon is formidable when the school wants it to be. The Buckeyes can offer him resources that Iowa State simply can't; at the very least they need to try their best to make him an offer he can't refuse.

Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska

Sure, it didn't work out in the NBA, but there's a strong case to be made that Hoiberg is the best tactician in the college game right now. He built the foundation for Otzelberger at Iowa State, and he took over a historically woebegone Nebraska program and slowly but surely built them into a competitor — including the first NCAA Tournament in Huskers history against No. 13 seed Troy on Thursday afternoon.

Everywhere he's gone (in college, at least), he's won big, and this year he's paired his beautiful five-out offense with a pack line defense that's among the most efficient in the country. He's outperforming Diebler's program at a place with almost literally zero history of success in basketball, on a fraction of the budget, with a fraction of the talent base. What more could you want?

Bryan Hodgson, South Florida

Ohio State should set its sights higher than replacing Diebler with an up-and-coming mid-major coach, but there are a couple of candidates who should at least give Ross Bjork pause. The first is Hodgson, who guided South Florida to an AAC regular-season and tournament title before bowing out in the first round of the Big Dance to Louisville on Thursday.

Prior to that, Hodgson posted back-to-back 20-win seasons at Arkansas State in his first head coaching job, having previously spent several years as an assistant under Nate Oats at Buffalo and then Alabama. That should give you an idea of the kind of ball the Bulls play: relentlessly up-tempo, with as many 3s and shots at the rim as physically possible. It's worked like gangbusters for Oats, and Hodgson seems to have the formula down.

At the mid-major level, at least. There are boxes still to be checked, namely when it comes to big-time recruiting and portal management (and all the other stressors that come with a big-budget Power 4 job). But he's earned a promotion, and he's plenty familiar with the Midwest.

Travis Steele, Miami (OH)

Speaking of which: Steele's resume is as Ohio as it gets, from a year as a GA in Columbus to a decade as an assistant (and then four years as a head coach) at Xavier before landing at Miami (OH). As you might've heard by now, the RedHawks were the only Division I team to finish the regular season undefeated, earning a No. 11 seed after beating up on SMU in the First Four earlier this week.

Steele has yet to prove it at the Power 4 level, and his time at Xavier was a bit underwhelming. Those are real concerns for a job like Ohio State; then again, 31-0 is 31-0, and he's assembled one of the most lethal offenses in the country this year with little more than spare parts. Maybe swapping Diebler for him is little more than a lateral move, but it's clear at this point that something has to change.