COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Darius Garland was a five-star prospect coming out of high school in the Nashville area. The most famous and prestigious programs in the country wanted him, but he picked a different path.
At that time Ohio State Interim Head Coach Jake Diebler was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt. A program that was less than 15 miles away, but it wasn’t anywhere near as successful as those best teams in the country.
Diebler was on Bryce Drew’s staff at Vanderbilt; they previously were together at Valparaiso. Diebler led the recruitment of Garland and played a very strong role in his Vanderbilt commitment.
“He’s locked into that guy that he’s recruited, he’s really all the way and he wants to get to know you better, just not as a basketball player, but as a person,” said Garland.
Garland and Diebler built a strong relationship, Diebler was there as much as he possibly could be and that meant a lot to Garland.
“He was at every home game. He’s at every turn to me. He’s just always on my line, just trying to get me there as hard as he can. So when I finally committed, he cried,” said Garland.
It was a huge get for the Commodores and unfortunately Garland only played five games because of a knee injury in late November his freshman season. Garland announced he was going pro the following January and the Cavs took him with the fifth overall pick.