If you know one thing about Thad Matta, chances are you know that he's the dude who wins 20 games every season. Generally everyone's favorite Matta tidbit is thrown into copy at the last second as a "woah hey guys did you hear about this? Did you see this?" kind of thing to impress readers with the staggering research that you did.
More specifically, it's used as lazy proof that Thad Matta is a Good Coach. Fabled Good Coaches have to have something to hang their hats on; Coach K has about a trillion rings to flash, Izzo is likable and goofy but also good, Calipari is a cheating shyster that recruits his ass off, and Tom Crean is the literal devil that has taken upon human flesh to walk the earth amongst us. Etcetera.
Matta hasn't been quite as successful as those aforementioned coaches (excepting Tom Crean, although I guess being the ruler of Hell has its advantages), but he does coach a nationally relevant team with a massive fanbase, and so when Ohio State wins that 20th game or Thad Matta gets profiled, the streak is dutifully brought up as a kind of totem pole of accomplishment for the guy:
After one season, he headed to Xavier, where he coached for three years before landing at Ohio State. In eight seasons at O.S.U., he has never won less than 20 games.
Matta, whose teams at Butler, Xavier and Ohio State have always won at least 20 games, piled up records of 24-13, 22-11 and 29-8 heading into this season.
Matta, recently gained his 300th win and is one of only two coaches nationally to post 20 or more wins in each of his first 13 seasons as a head coach.
Buckeyes coach Thad Matta, who now has led his teams to 20 wins or more in all 15 of his seasons as a head coach...
STILL 20-20
Matta extended his streak of consecutive 20-win seasons at Ohio State to 12. He's done even better than that, though. In 16 seasons as a head coach -- one at Butler, three at Xavier and 12 at Ohio State -- he has never won fewer than 20 games in a season.
So, hooray! With last night's win against a middling Penn State team, Thad Matta once again ran his 20 win streak to 16 consecutive seasons, and yet, somehow Ohio State is not a lock for a one or two seed in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, they're probably NIT-bound, and not in the "you idiots screwed up and now we're gonna win this stupid thing to spite you" kind of way, but more in the "yes, we are very excited to play a first round NIT road game against Hofstra" vein.
To be blunt: as impressive as Matta's 20 win streak seems, and as protective we are of it, out of context it's relatively meaningless.
And that's not to impugn Matta. 20 wins is no easy task in a stacked Big Ten when you're putting one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams in college basketball out there on the court.
But Matta is much more than the Old Faithful of the college basketball coaching world. It cannot be overstated how transformative his leadership has been to Ohio State basketball as a whole. We now expect the 20 win seasons, instead of just being surprised at their presence. With 20 win seasons we want Big Ten titles, and NCAA tourney runs. With 20 win seasons we expect to bring in recruits that will contribute right away and dominate the way that Oden and company did.
Thad Matta has already made a pretty good argument that he's the best Ohio State basketball coach of all time, by the standards that we've set forth for him. Those standards were informed by years of scandal and sub-par teams from a money sport that already is the perennial little brother to football for almost half its season, which was then turned around in dramatic fashion by a cherub-faced jokester from Hoopeston, Illinois.
2016 didn't live up to those lofty expectations. 20 wins in 2016 means that Ohio State is a bubble team with a chance. 20 wins in 2016 means that the Buckeyes have something to build on. 20 wins 2016 says that Ohio State basketball is still relevant on the national scene.
What 20 wins doesn't say is anything about Matta's legacy, his transformation of a program in flux to one of the better-run teams in the country, or act as a predictor for just how that team might do next season.
The AP profile from 2011 that referenced his 20th win that year might've hit the nail on the head:
It’s hard to even recall how bleak things were at Ohio State seven years ago when Thad Matta took over as head basketball coach. ...
“Thad Matta coaches the whole kid,” Sullinger said. “When Jim O’Brien was fired, he wrote out a map for the guys to come to his house to give them the news. They’d never been there before. Thad Matta wasn’t in that position (at Ohio State) for two weeks before he had his whole team over to his house. It’s family. He coaches family. He doesn’t coach a basketball team.” ...
In a state that lives and dies with the Buckeyes in football and expends considerably less emotional capital on the basketball squad, Matta has built a solid foundation.
For consistency's sake, I applaud and congratulate Matta on continuing his streak. But what I'm happier about is that Matta has created a culture of winning in Ohio State basketball where 20 wins isn't a milestone, it's simply a road marker that Matta and company want to speed past in the future.
That's something to be proud of.
