Why can't Ohio State's Jake Diebler hire Jon Diebler as an assistant coach?
Arguably the most obvious candidate to join Jake Diebler’s Ohio State coaching staff is one he’s not allowed to hire by law.
Since being named the Buckeyes' full-time men’s basketball coach, Diebler has been building a five-man coaching staff, and four assistants have been named. Although his name is familiar to many Ohio State fans, Jon Diebler, Jake’s younger brother who played for OSU from 2007-11 and is currently director of recruiting at Butler, will not fill the final spot.
Ohio ethics laws made the prospect of Diebler hiring a family member to join his staff untenable. According to the Ohio Ethics Commission, nepotism is defined as “when a public official or employee authorizes a family member’s employment or uses his or her position in any way to obtain a public job for a family member. Direct hiring is clearly illegal. However, the Ohio Ethics Law also prohibits public officials and employees from indirectly influencing the hiring process for a family member.”
In Ohio, the crime of nepotism is a fourth-degree felony. The law also says that should a family member legally receive such a job, that person's relatives must recuse themselves from direct supervision, annual evaluations and discussions about promotions or raises.
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Ohio State, as a public university, falls under the jurisdiction of such policies, and OSU's human resources department has its own nepotism policy. That policy states that, “Family members, whose qualifications rank each of them first for the positions under consideration may be employed, so long as neither family member is immediately responsible for or influences any employment action.”
In other words, as the head coach of a staff that will ultimately number roughly a dozen full-time assistants and support personnel, Jake Diebler could not hire his brother as a full-time assistant who would report directly to him.
This situation is different than when Jim Tressel became Ohio State's football coach and his brother, Dick, joined the staff as associate director of football operations. Dick Tressel reported to director of football operations Bob Tucker and served in that role for three years before being promoted to running backs coach. Urban Meyer's son-in-law, Corey Dennis, began as an intern in 2015 and was not a full-time assistant coach until Ryan Day was named head coach.
Jake Diebler’s staff consists of associate head coach Joel Justus and assistants Dave Dickerson, Luke Simons and Jamall Walker.
Jon Diebler just completed his second season as a member of Thad Matta's staff at Butler after serving in a video/basketball operations position with the NBA's Charlotte Hornets in 2021-22 after a lengthy professional career overseas.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State basketball: Why coach Jake Diebler can't hire his brother
