Baylor's Luke Simons joining Jake Diebler's staff as assistant

COLUMBUS — Jake Diebler’s coaching staff is coming into focus. The new Buckeyes head coach made his third hire of the week, this time bringing aboard Baylor director of basketball operations Luke Simons.

“I’m excited to welcome Luke as he’s going to be a great addition to our staff,” Diebler said in a statement Thursday. “He has the ability to connect with players at every level and his versatility is really important. He’s been on staff at the collegiate level, and he has international coaching experience as well. Those experiences are going to be valuable for our program as we move forward.”

Simons will serve as an assistant coach under Diebler, joining a new-look staff that also includes fellow assistants Dave Dickerson and Jamall Walker as well as associate head coach Joel Justus.

Simons spent the last two years at Baylor, during which the Scott Drew-led Bears won a combined 47 games and made two trips to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. Diebler’s connections to the Drew family are well documented. Diebler played for Homer Drew and Bryce Drew at Valparaiso and then coached with Bryce at both Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.

Before Baylor, Simons served as the director of basketball operations at Boston College in 2021-22 and in the same role at College of Charleston for two seasons from 2019-21, both under now-BC head coach Earl Grant.

Simons also worked under Bryce Drew with Diebler at Vanderbilt from 2016-19 and under Drew with Diebler at Valparaiso one season prior to their stay in Nashville. At both stops, Simons took on director of scouting duties.

Together, Simons and Diebler experienced an NCAA Tournament appearance at Vandy in 2016-17 and a program-record, 30-win season — including a trip to the NIT finals — at Valpo in 2015-16.

Simons’ international basketball resume is impressive. He was the director of operations for Team USA at the World University Games while the American men won two gold medals and one silver. Additionally, he was an assistant coach and the director of player development for the Mongolian National Team from 2012-15, culminating in a trip to the final round of the 2015 Asian Games.

Simons also was involved in setting up international competitive tours throughout Europe and Asia for Athletes in Action, a program designed to help athletes use their platform as part of God’s mission.

Diebler has now hired four coaches since taking over the program.

He first added former University of South Carolina Upstate and Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson to the Ohio State bench. Dickerson previously coached seven seasons at Ohio State under Thad Matta, including six as Matta’s associate head coach.

Then Diebler hired North Carolina State’s Joel Justus as his associate head coach. Justus was just part of a magical nine-game N.C. State run, first to an ACC Tournament title and then to a Final Four appearance. He recruited two of the top-three scorers from that Wolfpack team, but his recruiting success stretches back to when he was an assistant at Kentucky.

Diebler’s third hire was Jamall Walker, a four-year assistant under Bryce Drew at Grand Canyon who previously served as an assistant at Illinois for eight years. Not only will Walker’s move to Ohio State be a return to the Big Ten, but it will also be a return to Ohio. He spent three total seasons at Ohio University across two separate stints (2010-12) and (2008-09), both under John Groce, who then hired him at Illinois.

Although the Buckeyes had only four assistants on staff last year, Diebler can technically hire one more for the 2024-25 season because of an NCAA rule change last offseason that allows programs to have as many as five assistants instead of the previous maximum of three.