Jake Diebler will have a new top assistant coach in 2026-27.
His top assistant from this past season, Joel Justus, announced on Tuesday that he’ll be leaving Ohio State to take an assistant coaching position at Vanderbilt, per CBS Sports.
News: Ohio State associate head coach Joel Justus is joining Mark Byington’s staff, source tells CBS Sports. Justus, 44, spent the past two years in Columbus and was previously at NC State for the magical F4 run in 2024 and also worked under John Calipari at UK for seven years.
Justus served as Diebler’s top assistant for each of the head coach’s first two seasons at the helm of Ohio State, seeing the Buckeyes finish the 2024-25 season with a disappointing 17-15 record before aiding OSU in making its first NCAA Tournament in four years in 2025-26. The No. 8 seed Ohio State lost in the first round of the Big Dance to No. 9 seed TCU.
Before his time with the Buckeyes, Justus spent two seasons as an assistant coach at NC State, helping the Wolfpack reach the 2024 Final Four. He was also an assistant at Kentucky under John Calipari for seven years and spent one year at Arizona State.
Justus played college basketball at UNC Wilmington, the same alma mater as Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington, though the two did not overlap in their time there. The Commodores boasted a 27-9 record and finished fourth in the SEC in 2025-26, making the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed and advancing to the second round before falling to No. 4 seed Nebraska.
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