Jake Diebler was named the head coach for Ohio State on March 17th and since then, the Buckeyes have made the NIT Elite 8 and been active in adding to their new coaching staff. This morning, it was announced that Diebler has hired USC Upstate head coach Dave Dickerson to return to Ohio State as an assistant coach. Dickerson, 56, has been a coach for over twenty seasons at numerous locations.
USC Upstate coach Dave Dickerson is leaving to take associate head coach spot at Ohio State, source told @TheFieldOf68.
Andrew Garcia will take over an interim basis. Garcia has been with Dickerson since his arrival in 2018, and played for him at Tulane.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 25, 2024
Dickerson, who was the head man at Upstate for six seasons, finishes his tenure with the Spartans 65-117 and a 38-62 conference record. His best seasons came in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons as he helped lead Upstate to back-to-back top five finishes in the Big South Conference. He led the 2022-23 team to a Big South Semifinals appearance and missed the title game by four points as they lost to the defending champion UNC Asheville. That did not ruin their postseason hopes as they were invited to the CBI and lost to Indiana State in the first round.
Before being hired at USC Upstate he was the head coach for Tulane from 2005-2010 where he went 68-84 in his time with the Green Wave. Dickerson resigned from Tulane in 2010 and was then hired by former Buckeye Head Coach Thad Matta to join the Ohio State staff. While at Ohio State he was the lead recruiter for Jaquan Lyle, Daniel Giddens, Andre Wesson, and Austin Grandstaff. He was the top assistant under Matta and helped lead the Buckeyes to five NCAA Tournaments and a final four appearance. Dickerson brings NBA experience to the bench as he spent a year with the Utah Jazz as a scout during the 2017 season.
AJ is currently a senior at Teays Valley High School and plans to attend college next year. He has been a sports fan and Ohio State fan since he was a kid, and has been covering sports since 2020. He was a student manager for his Boy’s Basketball team for two seasons where the team won back to back league championships. AJ runs his own podcast called Just Talkin Sports, where he interviews athletes from all sports. He has over 1,800 plays on Spotify and 300 followers on Instagram. AJ plans to study Sport Management and minor in Journalism while also becoming a student manager for his selected college.