Five years after his final season at Ohio State, Thad Matta will become a head coach once again.
Butler announced Sunday that it has hired Matta, who took the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament in a one-year stint as the program's head coach in 2000-01, to rejoin his alma mater in replacing LaVall Jordan as its new head coach this offseason.
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— Butler Basketball (@ButlerMBB) April 3, 2022
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Matta has not held a head coaching position since 2016-17, his 13th season with the Buckeyes after which he had amassed a record of 337-123 with the program. Matta captured five regular season conference crowns and four conference tournament titles with the Buckeyes, made two Final Fours and competed in one national championship game. Matta has the most all-time wins in program history, and his nine NCAA Tournament berths are also the most ever among Ohio State head coaches.
After missing the NCAA Tournament for two consecutive seasons, though, Ohio State parted ways with Matta in June 2017, with then-Butler head coach Chris Holtmann taking the open head coaching vacancy in Columbus.
This past year, Matta joined the Indiana program as the associate athletic director for basketball administration with the Hoosiers.
Matta played for Butler for three seasons from 1987-90, served in a role as academic coordinator and administrative assistant for the program for the following four years before returning as an assistant coach in 1999. Upon taking over as head coach the next year, Matta led the team to a then-program record 24 wins, both a regular season and conference tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth.
But Butler has not been to the NCAA Tournament since Jordan's first season (2017-18), which was also the program's first year in the post-Holtmann era. The Bulldogs parted ways with Jordan following a 14-19 campaign in 2021-22, which was preceded by a 10-15 season the year prior.
