Five years after his last season at Ohio State, Thad Matta is once again the head coach.
Butler announced Sunday that he has hired Matta, who led the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament as the program’s head coach for a year in 2000-01, to return to his alma mater and replace LaVall Jordan as the new head coach this offseason.
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https://t.co/eSRw1oUoLt pic.twitter.com/3Jm9ZFjMAY
— Butler Basketball (@ButlerMBB) April 3, 2022
Matta has not held a head coaching position since 2016-17, his 13th season with the Buckeyes after posting a 337-123 record with the program. Matta won five conference regular-season crowns and four conference tournament titles, reached two Final Fours and participated in one national championship game with the Buckeyes. Matta has the most all-time wins in program history, and his nine NCAA tournament berths are also the most for any Ohio State head coach.
After missing the NCAA tournament for two consecutive seasons, Ohio State parted ways with Matta in June 2017, and Butler’s then-head coach Chris Holtmann took over the vacancy as coach at Columbus.
Last year, Matta joined the Indiana program as the assistant athletic director for basketball administration at the Hoosiers.
Matta played for Butler for three seasons from 1987 to 1990 and served as the program’s academic coordinator and administrative assistant for the following four years before returning in 1999 as an assistant coach. The next year, Matta took over as head coach and led the team to a then-program record of 24 wins, both a regular-season and conference tournament title, and an NCAA tournament berth.
But Butler hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since Jordan’s rookie season (2017-18), which was also the program’s first year in the post-Holtmann era. The Bulldogs split with Jordan after a 14-19 season in 2021-22, which was preceded by a 10-15 season the year before.