Thad Matta

Thad Matta

Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Ohio State
Conference	Big Ten
Record	320–108 (.748)
Annual salary	$3,182,000
Biographical details
Born	(1967-07-11) July 11, 1967 Hoopeston, Illinois
Playing career
1985–1986	Southern Illinois
1987–1990	Butler
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1990–1991	Indiana State (asst.)
1991–1994	Butler (asst.)
1994–1995	Miami (Ohio) (asst.)
1995–1996	Western Carolina (asst.)
1996–1997	Miami (Ohio) (asst.)
1997–2000	Butler (asst.)
2000–2001	Butler
2001–2004	Xavier
2004–present	Ohio State
Head coaching record
Overall	422–139 (.752)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2× NCAA Regional Championships – Final Four (2007, 2012) 4× Big Ten Tournament Championship (2007, 2010, 2011, 2013) 5× Big Ten Regular Season Championship (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012) 2× Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship (2002, 2004) 2× Atlantic 10 Regular Season Championship (2002, 2003) Horizon League Tournament Championship (2001) Horizon League Regular Season Championship (2001) NIT Championship (2008)
Awards
Horizon League Coach of the Year (2001) Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (2002) 3× Big Ten Coach of the Year (2006, 2007, 2010)

Thad Michael Matta (born July 11, 1967) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team. He was hired as the 13th head coach in Ohio State history on July 7, 2004 after the school had fired previous coach Jim O'Brien. He has posted 20 or more wins per season all throughout his career a head coach. On March 12, 2015, he set a school record for victories, winning his 298th game for OSU after defeating Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament.^[1]

Matta has led the Buckeyes to five Big Ten Conference regular season championships, four Big Ten Tournament titles (2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013), two Final Four appearances (2007 and 2012), and the 2008 NIT Championship.

Playing career

A basketball standout for the Cornjerkers at Hoopeston-East Lynn High School in Hoopeston, Illinois, Matta was a two-year starter for the Butler University Bulldogs in three seasons after transferring from Southern Illinois University as a sophomore. He led Butler in assists (100) and three-point field goal percentage (.433) in 1987–88 and in free-throw percentage in 1988–89 (.872). He served as a team captain (one of the Butler tri-captains that year) on Barry Collier's first team in 1989–90 and finished his career in sixth place on Butler's all-time list for free-throw percentage (.800). He earned a B.S. degree from Butler in 1990. Matta enjoyed his Butler career-high point total of 21 points against Xavier University at the Cincinnati Gardens on March 2, 1989.

Early coaching years

In total, Matta spent six seasons as a full-time assistant coach at three different universities, helping his squads compile a composite 128–58 (.688) record and make six postseason tournament appearances. Matta attributes much of his success to the 4 seasons he coached under central Illinois legend Jeff Butler. He was on the bench in five consecutive conference tournament championship games and won four league tournament championship rings. He was in the NCAA tournament five times as an assistant under four different head coaches and in the postseason National Invitation Tournament once.

Matta began his coaching career at Indiana State University as a graduate assistant under head coach Tates Locke in 1990–91. Matta served as an academic coordinator and administrative assistant at Butler (1991–94) before moving into the full-time coaching ranks.

Matta took his first full-time assistant coaching position under Herb Sendek at Miami University (Ohio) in 1994–95 and helped Miami to a 23–7 record, a Mid-American Conference regular-season championship and a first-round win in the NCAA tournament.

The following year, Matta accepted a coaching position at Western Carolina University under Phil Hopkins and helped the Catamounts to a 17–13 record, the school's first winning record in 10 years. Western Carolina captured the Southern Conference tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Matta returned to Miami under new head coach Charlie Coles in 1996–97 and helped the RedHawks to a 21–9 record, the MAC regular season and tournament championships and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Matta rejoined Butler University's staff in 1997 and helped the Bulldogs to three consecutive 20-win seasons. He established himself as one of the nation's best young coaching prospects during a six-year assistant coaching stint. In his three seasons as Barry Collier's top assistant, Butler compiled a 67–29 (.698) record, won two Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament championships and one MCC regular-season title, made two NCAA tournament appearances and earned one NIT berth. He served as Butler's primary recruiter.

Head coaching

Butler

Matta took over as head coach of Butler when Barry Collier left after the 1999–2000 season to coach at the University of Nebraska. Matta was named 2000–01 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year in his first and only season as head coach at Butler, after leading the Bulldogs to a school record 24 wins. He was also named National "Rookie Coach of the Year" by CBS SportsLine.com and College Insider.com.

Butler was 24–8 under Matta's direction that year with an 11–3 record and an MCC regular season championship, a MCC tournament championship and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Butler won 13 of its last 15 games. Eventual NCAA runner-up Arizona ended the Butler run in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Xavier

At Xavier, Matta led the Musketeers to three consecutive 26-win seasons, back-to-back Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championships in 2002^[2] and 2003^[3] and two league tournament titles in 2002 and 2004.^[4] Xavier advanced to three NCAA tournaments, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2004 following two second-round trips.

Matta's 26 wins for the 2002–03^[5] season marked the highest win total ever for a second-year Xavier head coach. He also broke the school record for most victories by a Xavier rookie head coach. Xavier's 26–6 record in the 2001–02 campaign set the record.^[6]

Matta was named 2002 Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year, while leading the Musketeers to the top regular season finish in the league at 14–2 and an Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship. In addition, Matta became the only first-year coach in conference history to ever win both the A–10 regular season and tourney championships.

Ohio State

Matta, a finalist for the 2002–03 Naismith National Coach of the Year Award, began his duties in Columbus on July 7, 2004. No time was wasted preparing for his first season in Columbus, which culminated in a 65–64 victory over undefeated and top–ranked University of Illinois in the regular-season finale at Value City Arena before a packed house and a national television audience. The Buckeyes' final record for the 2004–05 campaign was 20–12, but were ineligible from postseason play.^[7]

In the 2005–06 season Matta led the Buckeyes to an outright Big Ten Championship for the first time since 1992, finishing one game ahead of Iowa and Illinois.^[8] The Buckeyes' season came to an end during the second round of the NCAA tournament when they lost to Georgetown on March 19, 2006.^[8] Their final overall record was 26–6.^[8] The Buckeyes were thought to be a year away from competing for the league crown, as they were to add a highly regarded recruiting class, dubbed the "Thad Five", led by center Greg Oden of Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis for the 2006–07 season. The Buckeyes did win the Big Ten and Matta led Ohio State all the way to the national championship game, where they lost to Florida.^[9][10]

In the 2007–08 season, Matta's Buckeyes did not make the NCAA tournament. However, they won the 2008 NIT championship, despite playing with four new starters for the second consecutive year.^[11]

In 2009, Ohio State went to the NCAA Tournament, but were eliminated in the first round by Siena.^[12] In 2010, the Buckeyes won a share of the Big Ten and the 2010 conference tournament title. In the NCAA tournament they beat UC–Santa Barbara in the first round 68–51. The next round they beat Georgia Tech 75–66, but went on to lose to Tennessee in the Sweet 16.^[13][14]

In the 2010–11 season, Matta's Buckeyes were 29–2, ranked #1 in all polls (16–2 in conference play), and won the outright Big Ten Championship.^[15][16] The Buckeyes beat Penn State on March 13 to win their 2nd consecutive Big Ten Tournament title. The Buckeyes were the overall number one seed in the 2011 NCAA tournament and the number one seed in the Eastern bracket, where the Buckeyes won two games in Cleveland before losing to eventual Eastern regional champion Kentucky.

In the 2011-12 season, Matta led Ohio State to its third straight Big Ten Championship shared with Michigan and Michigan State. Ohio State advanced to the Final Four before losing to Kansas in a game the Buckeyes led by nine at halftime. This was the second Final Four appearance in Matta's career.

In the 2012-13 season, Ohio State finished 2nd in the Big Ten Regular Season, one game behind league champion Indiana. The Buckeyes went on to win the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago which was Matta's 4th Big Ten Tournament Championship. The Buckeyes were a 2 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. They lost in the Elite Eight to Wichita State.

Successful former assistants

Coaches who worked for Matta at Butler have been hired for head coaching positions at University of Iowa and Butler University. Sean Miller worked for Matta for three years at Xavier and was hired as head coach when Matta left, then took the head coaching job at University of Arizona. The success of Matta's staff at Ohio State was acknowledged by Ohio University in 2008, when former Buckeyes Associate Head Coach John Groce was chosen to lead that program, and who has since been tapped to lead the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. In 2010, former Buckeyes assistant coach Alan Major, who had also worked with Matta at Xavier and Ohio State, was named the head coach at Charlotte. In 2011, Sean's brother Archie Miller, another former Ohio State assistant, got the job at the University of Dayton. In 2013, Brad Stevens, a former graduate assistant of Matta's, accepted the head coaching job for the Boston Celtics. Stevens was replaced at Butler by Brandon Miller who had worked for Matta at Xavier and Ohio State.

Head coaching record

References

External links

• Dials leads No. 8 Buckeyes to outright Big Ten title