Jake and Jon Diebler haven't competed on the same basketball court in 21 years.
Well, that's the last time they had an audience. Anytime the brothers get together, they seem to be competing. But with fans in the stands? The last time that happened was memorable: On March 9, 2005, the Diebler brothers helped lead Upper Sandusky to the Ohio Division II state championship.
They cut the nets down at the Schottenstein Center with their father and coach, Keith Diebler. On Oct. 25, the elder Diebler will be in the stands watching as Jake Diebler coaches the Ohio State men’s basketball team in its final exhibition game before the 2026-27 season. On the other sideline will be Ohio State alumnus Jon Diebler, now entering his fifth season as an assistant coach at Butler.
“I’ll look down there before the game and probably there will be a moment where I’m not thinking about the competition, to be honest,” Jake Diebler said. “Then once the ball’s thrown up, it may become an element of personal because I don’t know if you can turn that off, the way we were raised.”
Competition was ever-present in the Diebler household growing up, and it sometimes included oldest brother Jeremiah, who is also expected to attend the Ohio State-Butler game. But to hear middle child, Jake, tell it, things were especially fierce when he and Jon were involved. They would even compete to see who could eat dinner faster.
Put them on opposite benches for a basketball game? Familial loyalties will take a backseat for 40 minutes.
“That’s how we were raised,” Jon Diebler said. “We were raised to compete and want to win. I’m the youngest so having two older brothers, I took my fair share of losses at a young age. [Jake’s] not wrong: We were always very competitive, but win or lose, that never got in between any of us.”
During a playing career at Ohio State that lasted from 2007-12, Jon Diebler averaged 10.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 41.6% from 3-point range in 144 games. Jake Diebler’s playing career at Valparaiso ran from 2005-09, where he averaged 5.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals in 116 games.
When Jake Diebler’s career ended, his younger brother had a plea for his head coach.
“I’ll never forget. I was on coach [Thad Matta] to hire Jake back when I was in school and then he brought Jake in as video coordinator,” Jon Diebler said. “Now to see where Jake is, that’s a cool moment.”
Matta hired Jake Diebler in 2013 after he had spent the previous four years on the staff at Valparaiso. He held the job at OSU for three years, moved on to an assistant coaching role at Vanderbilt for the next three years and then was hired as an assistant by Chris Holtmann in 2019. Now he’s entering his third season as the head coach at his brother’s alma mater.
Matta hired Jon Diebler as Butler’s director of recruiting in 2022 after he had spent the previous season with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets working in video and basketball operations, and new Bulldogs coach Ronald Nored retained him when Matta retired after the 2025-26 season.
Jake Diebler has tried to hire his brother, but Ohio's nepotism laws have prevented him from doing so.
“As an older brother, you’re proud of a younger brother who’s had a great start to his coaching career,” Jake Diebler said. “Started a little later [than I did] because he had an awesome professional playing career. We always competed hard and we loved even better, and that’ll never change.”
It creates a conundrum for their parents. Both Dieblers said they expect to have plenty of friends and extended family in the arena for the game to see their teams face each other, and Jon Diebler said he jokingly gave his mom, Renee, an ultimatum.
“I think she is the least excited person for this in all of America,” he said. “She is like, ‘I can’t believe you guys are playing each other.’ I might have been giving her a hard time and I was like, ‘Mom, pick a side.’ ”
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social, on Instagram at @cdadamjardy or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State-Butler game creates family showdown for Jon, Jake Diebler