Jake Diebler on how NIL, revenue sharing has introduced new challenges for Ohio State basketball

Summary

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Eye On College Basketball – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Jake Diebler on how NIL, revenue sharing has introduced new challenges for Ohio State basketball
Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Gary Parrish
Guest: Jake Diebler, Ohio State Head Men’s Basketball Coach

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Gary Parrish sits down at Big Ten Media Day with Jake Diebler, entering his second year as head coach at Ohio State. The conversation focuses on modern roster-building challenges—including NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), revenue sharing, and navigating player retention. Diebler shares insights on balancing transfer recruiting with high school talent, learning from other sports, and how Ohio State’s football program influences basketball. The episode offers an honest look at the evolving—and often confusing—landscape of college athletics administration.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Player Retention is Priority #1

• Diebler’s Approach: Retaining key players, especially leading scorer Bruce Thornton, was the “number one priority.”
• Modeling after Football: Diebler says he looked to Ohio State football’s build-from-within model for roster construction.
  • “We wanted to build from within. And quite honestly, I’ve modeled what our football team did when they went on that national championship run.” (Jake Diebler, 02:51)

2. How the Football Program Boosts Basketball

• Recruitment Synergy: The football program’s success and massive fan energy help in recruiting basketball talent.
  • “When we’re able to bring recruits to the Horseshoe on a Saturday…there's no better atmosphere in the country, regardless of sport.” (Jake Diebler, 04:21)
• Learning Across Programs: Coach Diebler benefits from borrowing ideas shared by football head coach Ryan Day and even sits in on team activities.

3. Cross-Sport Learning and Inspiration

• Pulling from Other Sports: Diebler discusses what basketball can learn from observing soccer and football.
  • “The importance of passing and spacing in soccer…there’s some translation to basketball…as a coach, you gotta always have your antennas up, regardless of what you’re watching.” (Jake Diebler, 05:42)

4. The New Recruiting Landscape: High School vs. Portal

• Striking a Balance: Diebler acknowledges uncertainty and the need to blend high school recruiting with strategic use of the transfer portal.
  • “We want a blend of good young players coming into our program, new every year, but also older, experienced, productive players.” (Jake Diebler, 06:56)
• Planning Challenges: The inability to predict roster needs year-to-year, due in part to transfer rules and other unknowns, makes precise recruiting difficult.

5. NIL & Revenue Sharing: Uncertainty and Frustration

• Lack of Clear Rules: Both NIL and revenue-sharing structures are in flux, making budget planning “really hard.”

  • “We just don’t know what [doing it the right way] is. That’s the hardest part.” (Jake Diebler, 08:42)

• Limits of Ohio State’s Brand: Diebler lamented the inability for Ohio State’s powerful brand to be fully leveraged for basketball in NIL because of unclear guidelines and football revenue emphasis.

  • “Why should Ohio State be punished because we have the best football team in the country?” (Jake Diebler, 10:27)

• Competitive Disadvantages Emerging: Parrish points to how some Big East or A10 basketball programs may end up with larger revenue-sharing “pots” for basketball than powerhouse state schools, simply due to structure rather than brand strength.

  • “It does kind of seem crazy that some of the biggest brands in college athletics might be fighting with a shorter stick when it comes to recruiting.” (Gary Parrish, 09:51)

6. The Path Forward for Ohio State Basketball

• Diebler’s Vision:
  • “Success for us is playing big time, meaningful games in end of February and March, competing…for one of the top spots in our conference and then positioning ourselves with a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. And that’s a good step forward for us.” (Jake Diebler, 11:59)
  • Diebler emphasizes keeping high expectations and striving to return to past program heights.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “You got to compartmentalize a little bit…for us, it's always going to be about relationships.” (Jake Diebler, 03:39)
• “It’s taken a lot of time to get some things through NIL…they’re going to iron out some kinks there. And so there’s just so much happening in the uncertainty…” (Jake Diebler, 08:48)
• “We should be able to prosper and operate as such, you know, but we can’t. Right. In a lot of regards.” (Jake Diebler, 10:40)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:34: Parrish introduces Diebler, opens with player retention
• 03:39: How player retention and relationships drive culture
• 04:21: Impact of Ohio State football on basketball recruiting and philosophy
• 05:42: Learning from other sports and cross-program collaborations
• 06:08: Balancing high school recruitment with transfer portal strategies
• 07:47: Confusion surrounding NIL and revenue-sharing rules
• 09:51: Challenges for basketball due to football’s emphasis in revenue sharing
• 11:31: Diebler’s vision for success at Ohio State in year two

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Final Thoughts

This episode provides a candid look at the juggling act college basketball coaches face in the era of the transfer portal, NIL, and evolving revenue sharing. Jake Diebler is transparent about both opportunities and frustrations—his optimism for the program is matched by concern over regulatory uncertainty. The discussion sheds light on how even elite programs like Ohio State face competitive constraints and tough decisions in a rapidly changing sport.

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Transcript

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[Gary Parrish]

Hey there, Gary Parish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports Eye on College Basketball podcast, where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to the like button shouts to Brandon Davies. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. Different deal today. As you'll soon realize, Matt Norlander is is not here with me. And that's because I'm in Chicago for Big Ten Media Day. And while here, I sat down with most of the coaches and some of the players for quick conversations about their programs and college basketball in general. And we figured, or at least we hoped, that you guys might like to listen to those conversations. So we're placing them in the I Own College Basketball feed. It's me, GP at Big Ten Media Day. The conversations I had with coaches and players, they are on tap. I hope you enjoy them. Right after this word from our partners.

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[Gary Parrish]

It's Gary Parish here with second year Ohio State coach Jake Diebler. So you bring back three top four scores from last season. How much of a priority was that? Just as soon as the season's over? Player retention, getting the guys back that you wanted to have back, most notably.

[Jake Diebler]

I guess, Bruce Thornton, it was the number one priority for us. You know, when we put together this year's roster, we wanted to build from within. And quite honestly, I've modeled what our football team did when they went on that national championship run. You know, they built from within and then we complemented with young players and portal guys to help build out what we feel is just a great roster. And we're really excited about this group.

[Gary Parrish]

Does it change the way you have to approach a season? Once upon a time, I don't think coaches spent much time in January, February, March worrying about, am I going to be able to keep this player from transferring now it's a constant thing that you guys have to worry about. Does it change the way you approach your job in those months where you otherwise would just be focused on basketball games?

[Jake Diebler]

You know, I think you got to compartmentalize a little bit. Right. But for us, it's always going to be about relationships. And you know, we, our staff, we talk about all the time we need to serve our players well. We need to help them grow and develop as players. Absolutely. But as men as well. And I think that culture that we were able to establish in year one is a big reason why we had the retention we had.

[Gary Parrish]

Does you mentioned the football program, obviously coming off a national championship, perhaps headed for another one. How does that positively impact the Ohio State basketball program? How does it help you do your job when the football program is on such a big stage so often and flourishing?

[Jake Diebler]

Yeah, it's great. It's great. You know, when we're able to bring recruits to the Horseshoe on a Saturday, it doesn't. There's no better atmosphere in the country, regardless of sport and you get to see the full force, power, influence and of our, you know, Buckeye network and, and that's huge. And then, you know, being able to work alongside Ryan, obviously not very often, but you know, to the degree where he opened up his doors when he was doing some stuff with his team this summer and allowed me to sit in and I was able to pick up a couple things and then take and implement them in our program, I think that's, it's big time. I'd. I'd be a fool not to try and pick up as much as I can from. From what they're doing because they are the best football team in the country.

[Gary Parrish]

Separate conversation I have with back home, I was talking to the Grizzlies new head coach, a man named Tomas Isolo, and he's from Finland. And he said he's just, for the first time in his life, started watching like Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football, and he is pulling things from the football field that he sees that he believes he can implement to a basketball court. Misdirection, stuff like that. Is that something you've done? Can you look at other sports and develop ideas for basketball from football, soccer, other things?

[Jake Diebler]

I spent some time with the Columbus Crew and their head coach this off season, and I think the importance of passing in spacing in soccer, it. There's some translation to basketball, right. And being able to get angles and how important that stuff is. So I think absolutely, as a, as a coach, you got to always have your antennas up, regardless of what you're watching. What can you pick up to help your team be better? And I try to do that, absolutely.

[Gary Parrish]

So one of the things I've picked up on today is as I'm talking to various coaches, the. The current state of recruiting comes up and I've had some say, you know, now I'm focused more on the transfer portal. Don't care about high school players that much. Others have said I still want to prioritize high school players and build from within and develop. That's the program I'm going to run. A lot of different opinions on how to do it. Every one of them comes hand in hand with the acknowledgment of. But I don't know if I'm doing it right. This is also new, and it's on some level, confusing. Do you have a grasp for how you want to recruit, roster build going forward? The most important thing was player retention. But do you understand yet the balance that you need to have at Ohio State between transfer portal guys and high school prospects?

[Jake Diebler]

I think you have to have just that. There has to be a balance again. We want to build around our guys who, you know, grow and develop, which I'm really proud of, the development we had in some guys last year. You know, I think we want a blend of good young players coming into our program, new every year, but also older, experienced, productive players who we can bring in to complement who we have back. But I think the hardest thing right now for us as coaches is it's really hard to plan, right? Because there's, there's uncertainty as to even what next year is going to look like. And not being able to plan makes it really hard in recruiting too. So we're trying to navigate that as well as we possibly can. I feel like we have a good grasp on it. Obviously we don't have all the answers, but retention first compliment both young and older, experienced, productive players in the portal as our formula.

[Gary Parrish]

The other thing I've heard from coaches is that, you know, most seem to have an idea of what they have to spend in revenue sharing, but no idea about nil whether they can get deals through the clearinghouse or not. When you're talking to other people in your profession, what kind of stories are you guys sharing? Because we just did this candid coaches series where we asked more than 100 college coaches if you just trust that your counterparts colleagues are going to follow the new rules as you understand them. And like 90% said no. And at the high major level it was almost all nos. Literally only one high major coach said yes. And even he didn't think it would be like 80%. He was just like 51% might follow the rules. People don't know what they are, don't know who's following them. Just if you could expand on that state of confusion around trying to build a basketball program right now, I think.

[Jake Diebler]

You know, right now I think most people want to try to do it the right way. We just don't know what that is.

[Gary Parrish]

Right.

[Jake Diebler]

That's the hardest part. Not not being sure, you know, what your total amount of money you have to work with presents a ton of challenges. And I think there's some things that could be done to help, you know, help define that better. But listen, there's, it's taken a lot of time to get some things through nil go and rightfully so. They're, it's new so they're going to iron out some kinks there. And so there's just so much happening in the uncertainty of what you have to work with for the next season is a real challenge. So you know, I wish they would for us, you know, at Ohio State. I wish they would. You know, I wish there was a pathway to do a sports specific cap. I wish there was a pathway to, you know, make that at a, at a level where at a place like Ohio State you can be great in the nil space in all sports because we have this, the biggest, the best, the most powerful and brand in all of college sports. But we don't get to utilize that to the max because of these kind of uncertain guidelines we have right now.

[Gary Parrish]

I mean, you know, I don't want to speak out of turn, but I, I think this is probably true because of the emphasis in revenue sharing at Ohio State on the football program. Strictly in terms of revenue sharing, I, I, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume, and that's all I'm doing. But assume you're going to have Big east programs and maybe an A10 program or two that, that have more money in a pot than, than, than some Big ten schools and SEC schools. And I don't know how long that's going to last, but it does kind of seem crazy that some of the biggest brands in college athletics might be fighting with a shorter stick when it comes to recruiting in the sport of men's basketball.

[Jake Diebler]

Yeah, it's a challenge, there's no question. And I think that's one of the things that they got to iron out and figure out a way to not like, why should Ohio State be punished because we have the best football team in the country.

[Gary Parrish]

Right.

[Jake Diebler]

You know, we, we should, we should be able to prosper and operate as such, you know, but we can't. Right. In a lot of regards. And I think we're not certainly the only program that's facing these challenges of trying to find ways to be competitive in the nil space in, you know, again, what is a space that isn't clearly being defined yet? So I think that that's certainly real. But we got confident in the leadership. It's good to see some of the leadership. You know, you're seeing some younger coach like John Shires now being involved in some of that stuff. So I think, I think those type of voices are good because he's been in the recruiting trenches for, you know, for a long time. And I'm excited about where college basketball is heading. Like, make no mistake, it is such a beautiful sport and game and it's heading in the right direction. We just got to iron out some of these details so it could take off.

[Gary Parrish]

Last thing before I get you out of here. Like I mentioned, you bring back three of your top four scores, you supplemented your roster with the transfer portal, and you, I think, had made a priority to, to get older and bigger.

[Jake Diebler]

Yes.

[Gary Parrish]

And in the front court, you take a Wright State transfer who's a senior, you take a Santa Clara transfer who is a senior. You got older, bigger, you've got the player retention. What does success look like in year two for you?

[Jake Diebler]

Yeah, Well, I think success for us is playing big time, meaningful games in end of February and March, competing. Right. For, you know, one of the top spots in our conference and then positioning ourself in part of those games with a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. And that's a good step forward for us. But that being said, I got huge, lofty expectations for this program because I've seen it at its peak Right. Following this program for so long. That's that's ultimately what we want to get back to. And we want to take a, you know, a big leap towards that this season and, and who knows, maybe get there if we can.

[Gary Parrish]

Hey, it's always good to see you. I appreciate your time.

[Jake Diebler]

You, too. Thanks.

[Gary Parrish]

Take care.