Thad Matta

Thad Matta

Thad Matta (born July 11, 1967 in Hoopeston, Illinois) is an American college basketball coach. He is 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 is one of just two coaches nationally to post 20 or more wins in each of his first ten seasons as a head coach. Matta has led the Buckeyes to three Big Ten Conference regular season championships, the 2007 and 2010 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament titles, a runner up finish in the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the 2008 NIT Championship. Matta also tied the record for most wins by a first-year coach at Ohio State (20).

Playing career

A basketball standout for the Cornjerkers at Hoopeston-East Lynn High School in Hoopeston, 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 co-captain (one of three 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 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. 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 and 2003 and two league tournament titles in 2002 and 2004. Xavier advanced to three NCAA tournaments, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2004 following two second-round trips. The three season totals of 26 wins are tied for the second-highest single-season win total in Xavier history with the 1987–88 team and trails only the 28 win 1989–90 "Sweet 16" season.

Matta's 26 wins for the 2002–03 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.

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 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 2004–2005 campaign was 20–12.

In the 2005–2006 season Matta led the Buckeyes to an outright Big Ten Championship for the first time since 1992, finishing one game ahead of the University of Iowa and the University of Illinois. The Buckeyes season came to an end during the second round of the NCAA tournament when they lost to Georgetown University on March 19, 2006. Their final overall record was 26–6. 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 2006–2007 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.

In the 2007–2008 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.

In 2009, Ohio State went to the NCAA Tournament, but were eliminated in the first round. In 2010, the Buckeyes won a share of the Big Ten and the 2010 conference tournament title.

Successful Former Assistants

Coaches who worked for Matta at Butler are currently in head coaching positions at Iowa University 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 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.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Butler (Horizon League) (2000–2001)
2000–2001	Butler	24–8	11–3	1st	NCAA Second Round
Butler:		24–8	11–3
Xavier (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2001–2004)
2001–2002	Xavier	26–6	14–2	1st (West)	NCAA Second Round
2002–2003	Xavier	26–6	15–1	1st (West)	NCAA Second Round
2003–2004	Xavier	26–11	10–6	T–3rd (West)	NCAA Elite Eight
Xavier:		78–23	39–9
Ohio State (Big Ten Conference) (2004–present)
2004–2005	Ohio State	20–12	8–8	6th
2005–2006	Ohio State	26–6	12–4	1st	NCAA Second Round
2006–2007	Ohio State	35–4	15–1	1st	NCAA Runner-up
2007–2008	Ohio State	24–13	10–8	5th	NIT Champions
2008–2009	Ohio State	22–11	10–8	T–4th	NCAA First Round
2009–2010	Ohio State	28–7	14–4	T–1st	NCAA
Ohio State:		155–53	69–33
Total:		257–84
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

External links

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