Thad Matta will return next season as Ohio State’s coach, according to a report from Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. Forde reported the news late Monday night.
Matta is in his 13th year leading the Buckeyes, but after a 17-14 season this year, Ohio State is in danger of missing its second-straight NCAA tournament. The declining results coupled with Matta’s well-documented health issues led some to believe there could be a mutual separation between the two sides or that Matta could decide to retire.
According to the Yahoo! report, however, the Ohio State job “is not going to open.”
Matta is 337-122 in his 13 years as the head coach of the Buckeyes. He is the winningest coach in program history and has five Big Ten regular-season titles, four Big Ten tournament titles and a pair of Final Fours over his 13-year stint in Columbus.
Ohio State is just 38-28 overall the last two seasons combined, however, and 18-18 in Big Ten play. If the Buckeyes don’t win the conference tournament — which begins Wednesday in Washington D.C. — they will miss the NCAA for the second-straight season and third time in Matta’s tenure in which Ohio State was postseason eligible.
The Buckeyes begin the Big Ten tournament Wednesday as the No. 11 seed against 14th-seeded Rutgers.
