Thad Matta to Butler
Entire content in the title. Butler, after firing LaVall Jordan, has hired former Ohio State coach Thad Matta. I guess whatever "health problems" that lead him to step down at OSU have been resolved.
https://twitter.com/ButlerMBB/status/1510638277673594886?s=20&t=8UYuMgDwG09xVR1rXUxjFQ
Thad Matta 2.0
He could sweat through a suit better than any coach in the country.
Still think Butler got a raw deal on this one. Matta not a bad hire. Never cared for the dude, but that was more because of the team he coached. He did not seem like an overly unlikeable guy and put some good teams together at OSU.
I am the exact opposite on this one. I hated OSU basketball even more under Matta, not as much under Holtman. He was one of the coaches I least liked during that timeframe.
I remember him kinda getting in Beilein’s face and generally acting like an asshole after someone (evan turner, maybe?) hit a half-court shot to beat us in the conference tournament one year. Have pretty much despised Matta since then
Yeah, I think the rivalry was pretty heated during his time at OSU. I don’t think Beilein had a lot of respect for his ethics from what I recall.
Sorry to jump the thread but has there been a r/place post here? Michigan is doing a really good job. Does anybody know who’s behind the 42-27 ?👏 very good job to the people doing it.
Huh?
Yes that was posted
Go to the Board, and you'll find: M fans doing work on r/Place.
Thanks. It was posted here but doesn’t say who’s organizing it.
edit: that’s it. thanks Derek.
By all accounts Thad is a great guy. Glad he’s healthy enough to get back to a head coach position.
So if he does well there, and Holtmann continues to lose in the opening weekend of the tournament every year, will Matta become a candidate for his old job?
Holtmann >>> Matta but not a bad hire for Butler
Matta was a much better recruiter, which led to him having better teams. In fact, I'd say that recruiting was his best attribute. I'm curious how it will translate to a Butler program that hasn't recruited all too well recently (and in an environment where recruiting has been deemphasized due to the transfer portal).
Curious as to why you think Holtmann is better than Matta?
At OSU Matta guided the Buckeyes to an NCAA runner-up, 2 Final Fours, 3 Elite 8 appearances and 5 trips to the sweet sixteen. He won 5 regular season Big Ten titles and 4 Big Ten Tournament titles. All of that in 13 seasons.
Through 4 seasons at OSU Holtmann has never won anything in the Big Ten and never made it past the first weekend of the ncaa tourney.
Holtman is ‘better’ for us, as Michigan fans, because his teams don’t do as well as Matta’s did. He also seems like less of an asshole, for what that’s worth
Where does the Holtmann hype come from? The man's never won a conference title of any kind (regular season or tournament) and has advanced past the round of 32 once in his career. (The one time he did, he faced the murderer's row of Winthrop and Middle Tennessee State.) But somehow the media (even MGoBlog) thinks he's awesome.
Matta OTOH was absolutely an elite coach until his health issues started.
I think it's stickiness from Holtman's first season. He somewhat unexpectedly took essentially the same team that went 7-11 (B1G) in Matta's last season and went 15-3 in the conference and turned KBD into POY. So everyone was like, wow this guy is great.
And he's always (aside from his second season and maybe this past season) seemed to outperform his talent level.
Yes, he's been bad in the tournament but I think people put too much weight on a single elimination bball tourney, especially when he's only once had a sweet 16 seed.
That said, he's not a great recruiter. Matta was way better. So at some point, if you're a bad recruiter, and you're at a school where you should win something at some point, it's not enough to hang your hat on "doing more with less". You need to do more with more.
Matta objectively was better there even if you don't think he's a better x's and o's coach.
For Tom Bradys sake let hope people give credit for success in a single elimination football tournament.
He somewhat unexpectedly took a essentially the same team that went 7-11 in Matta's last season and went 15-3 in the conference and turned KBD into POY.
But KBD wasn't healthy the previous year, which was a big factor. He had played in only 9 games.
I think people put too much weight on a single elimination bball tourney, especially when he's only once had a sweet 16 seed.
The tourney may produce the odd outcome here and there, but over the long run, the cream rises to the top. The best tourney coaches are usually good in general. If Holtmann's not going to win anything in March, he's got to bring home some hardware in the regular season, but he's never done that, either.
I agree with the latter but I would not consider 4 tournaments to be the long run. In one of those he exceeded seed expectations, by winning as an 11 seed, one of which he met expectations as a 5 seed by bowing out in the second round, and one of which he slightly missed expectations by losing as a 7 seed.
His one major sin was losing as a 2 seed to a 15. I'll call that the odd outcome until further notice.
At Butler he did slightly better than seed expectations.
And yes, Matta had plenty of excuses his final year (his own health, injuries, etc) but we don't know the counterfactual. KBD was a solid player as a sophomore, not sure anyone saw him becoming the dominant POY that he was as a senior under Holtmann. We do know that they were much better in his first season as coach than they had been the previous two seasons (both of which they missed the tournament). And he got a lot of credit for that. But it's still his high water mark.
Yeah, this makes no sense.
Holtmann is a .610 coach, Matta performs @ a .740 level, 13 tournaments and 2 final 4's and 3 time B1G coach of the year. Holtmann is not even in the same conversation at this point.
I didn't like Matta period for whatever reason, but these are just facts. If he's healthy Butler just hired one hell of a recruiter and coach.
Agree. To compare the two is just crazy. Holtmann is nowhere near Matta - not even on the same planet. Didn't care for Matta but have to give it to him......he's a solid coach when healthy.
He’s gotta go through Xavier first. 🤣
I am not a fan of Ohio State.
+1 relatabe
Fuck Ohio
Must be something in the water down there... 🤷
Dude is a goblin.
Now that’s a tall pile of BS!!! Good luck with that one. Nothing controversial will come out of this hire.
Do we have a spot to offer Lavall Jordan or our coaching staff is pretty set as it is?
No openings short of a last minute poaching/Martelli retirement
It seems working at OSU creates "health" issues for some coaches there. Could it be poop from the coolers getting into the drinking water?
I thought Thad Matta is a goblin.
What's Tha Matta?
What’s d Matta?
You say tomato I say Thad Matta
So I guess the mgoposter ThadMattaisaGoblin can come out of retirement.
If Thad is a basketball coach, who will take over being the Goblin?
Go Blue.
Wonder if he will create this again but with Butler
Is he a big zero?
Why they hired him instead of Jeff Boals is idiotic
Boals is happy coaching at his alma mater. I don’t think he’d want to make a lateral move to another mid-major program.
This. It's really confounding. Funny for us, but silly.
My guess is Columbus itself is toxic.
FWIW, I ran the Columbus Marathon in late '91, the only time I have ever puked during a race...
my recollection is that they weren't quote-unquote 'health problems' but real, actual health problems. back issues? or issues with his feet? someone remind me.
the guy can coach, though. if he's healthy, butler done good.
Bad back surgery in 2007 caused him to develop drop foot. You could tell he was hurting bad his last year with OSU and I guess he said he couldn’t walk for a year after he was let go. He definitely needed some time off and it wasn’t because of how he coached. He got screwed when a whole recruiting class left after their first year because they didn’t get the PT they wanted. He seemed to run a clean program too so I’m happy for the guy.
Yeah.. He ran a clean program, yet somehow pulled Conley and Oden early in his tenure on virtually no credentials or basis whatsoever? At a school that sucked at basketball?
Mmhmmokaysure.gif.