Boys basketball coach Diebler leaving Genoa

Led Comet boys to 13-43 record in two seasons

Keith Diebler coaches the Bowsher High School Rebels boys basketball team in December, 2011. Diebler spent two years as an assistant at Bowsher under coach Joe Guerrero between his stints at Upper Sandusky and Genoa.

GENOA — After two seasons at the helm, longtime boys basketball coach Keith Diebler has resigned his latest position at Genoa.

“I don’t fit,” said Diebler, who did not have a teaching position at the school. “It was just tough not being on the [teaching] staff and coaching there. It’s no fault of theirs. They just didn’t have any opening for me.

“At a small school especially, I believe for them to go forward it’s important for the head coach to be more visible at the school.”

Diebler — a veteran of more than 30 years as a head basketball coach with stops at Plymouth, Gibsonburg, Bowling Green, Fostoria, and Upper Sandusky — resides in Port Clinton and has a teaching position at Penta Career Center.

He was also Genoa’s volleyball coach this past season.

“Keith informed me that he wanted to take some time off and enjoy his sons and their careers,” Genoa athletic director Mike Thomas said. “He did a great job for us both in volleyball and boys basketball. He was easy to work with and worked well with the administration. I wish him only the best.”

The feeling is mutual from Diebler, who guided the Comet boys to a 13-43 record in two seasons. Genoa was 10-14 (7-7 Northern Buckeye Conference) last season after a 3-19 (0-14) season with a young roster in 2012-13.

“I have nothing but good things to say about Genoa,” Diebler said. “I could not have worked for better people. My experience there was a really good one, and I enjoyed working with the kids.

“I’m excited for them next season. They’ll have eight or nine letter winners back [in boys basketball], and they have worked very hard on their skills. I see them being successful for whoever coaches them next.”

Diebler spent two years as a boys basketball assistant at Bowsher under coach Joe Guerrero between his stints at Upper Sandusky and Genoa. He said he was uncertain about his coaching future, indicating that he may use the time to catch up with his three sons and their basketball endeavors.

His oldest son, Jeremiah, recently took the head boys basketball post at Monroeville, middle son Jake is an assistant coach under Thad Matta at Ohio State, and youngest son Jon, the property of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, has spent the last three seasons playing professional basketball in Greece and in Turkey after concluding his career at Ohio State.

While Diebler was coaching at Upper Sandusky the Rams won the 2005 Division II state championship when Jake was a senior and Jon a sophomore. The Rams were D-II state runners-up in 2007.

All three of Diebler’s sons were named Ohio Associated Press players of the year during their careers — Jeremiah for Gibsonburg in Division IV in 2000, Jake in 2005, and Jon in 2007.

Contact Steve Junga at: sjunga@theblade.com, or 419-724-6461 or on Twitter@JungaBlade.