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What does Valparaiso mean to Jake Diebler, a program alumnus and Ohio State's coach?
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- What does Valparaiso mean to Jake Diebler, a program alumnus and Ohio State's coach?
The moment lives on in Homer Drew's mind as well as in one of his favorite photographs.
It's a Saturday inside the United Center in Chicago, and Valparaiso is taking its shot at No. 1 North Carolina. The eventual national champions will prevail with an 85-63 win on the home court of the Bulls, but that's not what floods back to Drew's mind when he remembers the game. Nor is it trying to stop Tyler Hansbrough, who had 25 points on only 13 shots.
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It's an image of senior Jake Diebler diving for a loose ball.
"He is completely parallel with the floor, and his hand is out where he's going to tip the ball back to a teammate," Drew told The Dispatch. "That's the competitor, the desire, the passion that he played the game with. He made my life very enjoyable as a coach."
Tuesday night, he'll make Drew's life enjoyable as a fan, too. Now 80, the man who recruited Diebler out of high school, coached him for four years and then gave him his start in coaching will be inside Value City Arena to watch his Ohio State team take on his alma mater.
As Drew's valued photo shows, though, Diebler's playing career was about more than what the box score showed – and so many of those intrinsic qualities were refined at Valparaiso after the building blocks were installed by his father and longtime Ohio preps coach, Keith Diebler.
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"I think I played out of a love and affection for that place," Jake Diebler said. "I played that hard and was willing to sacrifice, whether it was my body or whatever, that much for the opportunity to wear that jersey. That place meant a great deal to me."
How did Valparaiso come to matter so much to Jake Diebler?
While playing first for Fostoria and then Upper Sandusky, Diebler caught the eye of several colleges but had his eyes set on a military path. The plan was to enroll in the United States Military Academy, but a letter in the mail led to a teary phone call to West Point to understand why he had been medically disqualified from enrolling.
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It was an accumulation of little things that ultimately red flagged his application, Diebler said, throwing a wrench into his plans. Fortuitously, Valparaiso had been recruiting his younger brother, Jon, so Drew and his staff were already well familiar with his game.
Things moved quickly once Valparaiso realized that Jake Diebler was available, even if getting to Keith Diebler's 6 a.m. practices wasn't the easiest task.
"When we found out that medically he was not going to be accepted then we got excited because we would love to have him come to Valparaiso," Drew said. "I really enjoyed Keith and the quality of both sons in Jake and Jon."
After winning a state title during his senior season, Diebler's first year at Valparaiso was challenging. It wasn't long before the freshman called his dad to let him know that he had made a mistake and wanted to leave. His dad's response was pretty simple: you're not quitting.
Ohio State freshman center Greg Oden falls as he posts up on Valparaiso's Arden Skoglund (34) during the first half at Value City Arena on Dec. 2, 2006. Valparaiso's Jake Diebler (33) watches from behind. Oden finished his first game as a Buckeye with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks.
"I'm forever thankful that my dad basically told me that I was wrong and (Drew) was right and that I was wrong for thinking that way and feeling sorry for myself," Jake Diebler said. "It was, no, you're in a great situation surrounded by great people who love and care for you. I think in that moment when I really realized that, the place meant so much to me, and I grew."
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Those feelings didn't impact his ability to affect the Crusaders (now the Beacons) on the court, and Drew said he had no memories of Diebler being unhappy in the early going. During the summer before his freshman year, Diebler, his roommate, Brandon McPherson and Drew had a regular practice of playing table tennis.
Turns out, Drew is pretty accomplished at the sport, as Diebler would find out.
"We would play and I would win but he would keep practicing," Drew said. "He'd say, 'I want ya again, coach, I want ya again.' "
Did Diebler ever beat him?
"Ask him that," Drew said with a chuckle.
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There was obviously a lot more to Valparaiso than table tennis for Diebler, though. Spiritually, it's the place where Diebler said he was saved, a critical component to his faith in God. On the court, he started every game during his final three years, at one point playing a program-record 278 consecutive minutes during a seven-game stretch as a senior.
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For much of his collegiate career, Diebler wore a clear, protective facemask on account of the "multiple broken noses and surgeries" he endured while playing basketball. To start his senior year, he'd had enough, and against the advice of both his mother and Drew, played without one.
The jersey donned to start the game against the Tar Heels wasn't the same one he finished the game wearing. At some point during the game, Diebler again broke his nose, splattering the white jersey with blood and necessitating a change.
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"Sure enough, I tried to box out one of their bigs and broke it again and had to play with it the rest of the year," Diebler said. "Couldn't keep me out, man. You literally had to cut my leg off to keep me out."
Dec 20, 2008; Chicago, IL, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Ed Davis (right) battles for a rebound with Valparaiso Crusaders guard Jake Diebler (left) during the second half at the United Center. North Carolina won 85-63. Mandatory Credit:Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
It didn't take long for Drew to see Diebler's potential as a future coach, either. In games, he would suggest game plan adjustments while volunteering to play multiple positions based on how games were going.
"He's always been around good coaches and good people, and he was always hungry for knowledge," Drew said. "Going to coaching clinics and asking people, what's your favorite out-of-bounds play? What do you do when people are switching? He was always good at asking questions to better himself. Now he's back where he belongs, in his home state and as head coach."
Dec 14, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Jake Diebler in the game against the Auburn Tigers during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images
Ohio State's Jake Diebler, Valparaiso's Roger Powell share similar backgrounds
On the Valparaiso bench is another familiar face: Roger Powell, who was a Valparaiso and a Vanderbilt assistant alongside Diebler who is in his second season as Beacons head coach.
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Both owe a lot of their trajectories to Valparaiso, and both have ties to significant games inside Value City Arena. As a senior at Illinois, Powell missed the final shot of the game after Matt Sylvester's 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left ended the Fighting Illini's undefeated season in the final game of the 2004-05 season.
Two seasons later, Diebler started and played 28 minutes of Valparaiso's 78-58 loss at Ohio State on Dec. 2, 2006. He finished with 5 points, six rebounds, one assist and four turnovers in what was also the first game in Greg Oden's collegiate career after he had missed the first seven games with a wrist injury .
If you ask Diebler about that game, he'll laugh and ask you not to look up the box score.
When Diebler's playing career ended in 2009, he quickly stepped into the role of graduate assistant on Drew's staff for a year before being promoted to director of basketball operations for 2010-11 and then a full-time assistant for the next two years. During those two years, and also while at Vanderbilt from 2016-19, Diebler and Powell worked side by side as assistant coaches.
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"I think it's going to be wonderful from my point of view," Drew said. "For Roger and Jake, they'll be more stressed, but I'll sit up and enjoy this, seeing two men that I have great respect for, great love with, coaching against each other. I'm a winner no matter what."
Ohio State is paying Valparaiso $100,000 to come to Value City Arena , $10,000 more than it is paying other non-conference opponents Youngstown State and Indiana State for their games. It wasn't necessarily a game Diebler set out to schedule in his first year, but as the schedule came together it was an opportunity that made sense for both sides, he said.
Now comes the challenge of beating a program that has given him so much.
"I grew so much in college that I'll be forever grateful for my time there," Diebler said.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jake Diebler's past, present collide in Ohio State-Valparaiso showdown
