USC Upstate's Dave Dickerson returning to Ohio State as assistant coach
COLUMBUS — Jake Diebler has made his first hire as Ohio State head coach.
Diebler is bringing aboard University of South Carolina Upstate head coach Dave Dickerson to join his staff as an assistant. Dickerson has led the Spartans since 2018, but, before that, he was Ohio State’s associate head coach under Thad Matta for six seasons.
“Dave Dickerson is a respected, veteran coach, and I am excited that he is rejoining the Ohio State family,” Diebler said in a statement Monday. “He was not only a part of some of the most successful teams in Ohio State history, but he also brings head coaching experience that will be invaluable as we continue to take the next step as a program.”
Dickerson posted a 65–117 overall record in his six seasons at the helm of USC Upstate — which moved up to Division I in 2007 — including a 38–62 mark in the Big South, a conference the Spartans joined ahead of Dickerson’s first year as head coach. They slipped to 10-20 this season after back-to-back postseason appearances. USC Upstate won 10 games in Big South play in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, first making The Basketball Classic in 2022 and then the CBI in 2023.
Dickerson was also the head coach of Tulane from 2005-10. He went 68–84 with the Green Wave, including 31–47 in Conference USA action. Dickerson piloted Tulane to two consecutive winning seasons, most notably guiding the program to a 17-win season in 2006-07, in which the Green Wave finished tied fourth in Conference USA with a 9-7 league record. Before Dickerson, Tulane hadn’t had back-to-back winning seasons since the mid-’90s.
In between his two head coaching runs, Dickerson — who played his college basketball at Maryland — served on Matta’s staff from 2010-17. He was part of 181 Buckeyes wins, two Big Ten regular season titles, three Big Ten Tournament title game appearance, three Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight and a Final Four. Ohio State made the NCAA Tournament five of Dickerson’s seven seasons with the program.
He’ll try to help Diebler and the Buckeyes get back there next season. Diebler was working as a video coordinator for Ohio State (2014-16) during part of Dickerson’s last stay in Columbus.
So it’s a reunion and the latest stop on Dickerson’s 20-plus-year coaching career that also includes time at Gardner-Webb, James Madison, Radford and Maryland.
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