Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger linked to Ohio State job if Jake Diebler is fired

Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger has been linked to a potential Big Ten opening, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello revealed on Wednesday.

Borzello reported that Ohio State, if it were to part ways with head coach Jake Diebler, would look to gauge Otzelberger’s interest. Diebler has led the Buckeyes to a 42-28 (23-19) record across two full seasons and the final 11 games of the 2023-24 season. Although Ohio State sits at 17-10 this season, it currently sits on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.

“Otzelberger has established himself as one of the elite coaches in college basketball, and he signed a new contract in December 2024 with a restructured buyout that makes him potentially attainable,” Borzello wrote. “If Ohio State were to open, there’s reason to believe the Buckeyes would look to gauge Otzelberger’s interest. That said, he’s happy in Ames, with no signs of him itching to leave, and he has a great relationship with Cyclones athletic director Jamie Pollard.”

T.J. Otzelberger had previously coached at South Dakota State (2016-19) and UNLV (2019-21) before he was hired to succeed former Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm ahead of the 2021-22 season. Otzelberger took over a program that finished with a 2-22 record the season prior and led it to the 2022 NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed, marking its first appearance in the Big Dance since 2019.

T.J. Otzelberger has cemented Iowa State as winning program

The Cyclones have made the NCAA Tournament in the first four seasons of the Otzelberger era, and look poised to be a top-three seed in the upcoming Tournament. Across 168 games with the program, Otzelberger has led Iowa State to a stellar 119-49 (53-36) record. They climbed as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll in both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, marking their highest ranking in program history.

Although Otzelberger boasts no apparent connection to Ohio State, it would certainly be a slam dunk hire for the Buckeyes if they were unable to lure him away from Ames. It has been an extremely tough decade for the program, as it has made the NCAA Tournament just four times since 2016. None of those appearances resulted in a second weekend appearance. Ohio State earned a No. 2 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, but was upset by No. 15 seed Oral Roberts in the First Round.

Otzelberger has certainly cemented himself as one of the best coaches in the country, making his departure extremely unlikely. However, you can never quite say never once the coaching carousel heats up in the offseason.