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#2 UCLA vs. Ohio State, Dec 17, 2016

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LitlBuck said:
No I do not have the links but I have heard it on TV a number of times.
He was in a roundtable discussion with Seth Davis, Bill Self, Tom Izzo, and Larry Brown a couple years ago and I do not think he would be in that company if he were not highly respected. They could have gotten plenty of other coaches to participate in that roundtable discussion.

Also, besides Izzo name me one coach in the Big Ten that you would rather have then Matta.
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I have no doubt that Thad is respected as he's been in the business more than 20 years and he's had some really great seasons. There are lots of ex coaches that take place in round table discussions as well. Not sure what kind of indication that is about how good a coach someone currently is, but I'm more concerned about the accomplishments on the court.

I don't believe our last 3+ seasons have met the expectations for the basketball program. The last 6 years have seen a dip in recruiting and player development. I think Thads health has played some role in that, but he's not getting the recruits he was getting and the assistants haven't been nearly as good as his first 6-7 years at OSU. Fair enough if you are happy with the current trend in OSU hoops. We all have different perspectives of what to expect from the basketball program.

There aren't any coaches in the B1G that I'd really want regardless of whether Thad was here or not because I think we can do better than what those other coaches offer (none of those coaches are going to build a top 10 program). But, if you are going to measure by performance, Crean, Gard, Painter and Turgeon are positioned to have more success in their programs through the end of Mattas contract. I am guessing Collins isn't going to be at NW more than a couple of years and will be picked up by a big time program. I don't know enough about him personally to know whether I'd want him as a head coach, but I think he is going to have a pretty good career.
 
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wigmon said:
don't believe our last 3+ seasons have met the expectations for the basketball program. The last 6 years have seen a dip in recruiting and player development. I think Thads health has played some role in that, but he's not getting the recruits he was getting and the assistants haven't been nearly as good as his first 6-7 years at OSU. Fair enough if you are happy with the current trend in OSU hoops. We all have different perspectives of what to expect from the basketball program.
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I never said that I was happy with the way the OSU basketball program was trending over the past few years but I just do not think that you are going to find a better coach than Matta especially if he is fired. Nobody will want this job if that happens and as I posted in his thread I do not think that he ever will be fired and if you want a new basketball coach at Ohio State he is going to have to walk away on his own. Firing Matta would put a big black stain on the HC basketball job at Ohio State.

People always talk about the good guys that Matta has missed on but if you are a really good high school basketball player with no connections to Ohio State would you really come here? The basketball facility is a terrible place to play in even with the practice courts. It probably is the biggest mistake that Andy Geiger and Gene Smith ever made. In addition to that, the basketball program certainly does not get the recognition in Columbus that the football program does and I think that turns a lot of potential recruits off. I think things were a little bit different when the Schott was all fancy and new.

I guess the biggest problem that I have is with player development and I do not know who is to blame for that. Loving was one of the 2-3 top players in Ohio coming out of high school and KBD was also very highly ranked. I have no idea what has happened to their talents. There are other guys on the team who has not lived up to expectations but I think you get my drift and you cannot blame that all on the HC. Players have to be willing.

I posted in the Matta thread you are going to have to live with this program and its coach unless Matta decides to walk away and I will be shocked if he does in the next couple years. Oh, I always forgot Matta's health/back is probably better this year than it has in many prior years.
 
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Matta has 2.5 seasons left on his current contract. If we don't make the tourney this year, I don't anticipate that there will be any talks to have it renewed. If we aren't going to renew his contract, it would probably be better for us to part ways sooner rather than later as the longer its dragged out, the longer it takes to build the program back up.

Matta has had 2 different careers at OSU. The first 10 years are as good of a coach as we can probably expect at OSU. The last 4 is a different story and recruiting has not been what it once was, so there isn't much of an expectation for us to return to to winning B1G titles and making it to the F4 in the near future (at least not before Mattas contract is up).

Again, its not just the results either. Its players transferring, not developing, talking about lack of commitment, etc that is indicative of more than just a problem with a few years of results. At this point, unless Matta can show that he can turn it back around in the next year and a half, I don't really think we have anything to lose by going another direction.
 
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No need to go another direction, though. Like Litl said, this is what Ohio State basketball is in Columbus, and it is what it always has been....really nice ups followed by erratic downs. Last year's dud of a class is exactly what we get at Ohio State every seven years or so...a bunch of acclaimed guys that get together and simply make each other worse. We saw the prototype at Ohio State with Randy Ayer's elite class the year after JJ made a splash. "Program Killer" Macon, Gerald Eaker, Derek Anderson, and Greg Simpson. We have Kaleb Wesson, Beverly, Bazley, Goodwin, and Ahrens in the pipeline. Solid players, but none that are turnaround-types. The only thing that happens to make a splash at Ohio State basketball is a difference-maker, and those are hard to come by. You basically need a stud from Ohio to arise and to feel the love of staying in state (Jerry Lucas, JJ, Sullinger). Even Evan Turner and Greg Oden had some connections to Ohio (Turner dad in Columbus, Oden had AAU connection with Thad and the influence of Daequan Cook). More so than in football, the basketball program is going to rise and fall based on what Ohio players are doing. If we had landed Kennard, for example, I don't think we would be talking about Thad being on any hot-seat. I do have an issue with player development, but that really comes down to the players themselves in basketball....
 
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When a team wants to keep its coach, the contract is renewed well before the end of the contract. At the end of this season Thad has 2 years left and that is the general time frame for having discussions about an extension. IF we miss the tourney again this year and Thads contract isn't renewed before next season, the writing will be on the wall and recruits will be in limbo about who is going to be coaching at OSU in '19.

Its a pretty simple question, if you are AD and we miss the tourney again this year, are you extending Thads contract? If you aren't extending the contract, then I think its better to part ways sooner than later as the '19 class in OH is pretty good so you want the coaching situation to be resolved well before then.
 
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LitlBuck said:
...besides Izzo name me one coach in the Big Ten that you would rather have then Matta.
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HabaneroBuck said:
...there aren't any coaches in the B1G anyone would rather have.
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Why are we limited to other coaches in B1G in comparisons to Matta? There are hundreds of others outside of the B1G.

Maybe I'm missing something but where's the next Thad Five? Where's the next ET? Are we pulling in those kinds of recruits now? If so, I've not seen them. If not, why?

Coaches coach and players play, but if you can't recruit big time players you won't be a big time coach. If we're content to be over .500 and play in the NIT, that's one thing. We've certainly been there before, but Thad raised the bar. Are we okay with lowering it for old time's sake? Ohio State has every resource imaginable. There's no reason tOSU can't be competitive in football AND basketball. It wasn't long ago that we were, but it's been long enough to ask questions now.
 
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I can't think of a time when we were ever content for that at OSU. Miller went to the NCAA tourney 3 of his last 5 years and won the NIT the year he was fired. I understand his B1G success wasn't as great, but he also didn't have Rutgers, Nebraska, PSU and MD in the league. MD has been OK, but the other three are generally bottom feeders in the league and help pad the win totals most years.

And I agree, the coaching search would extend beyond the league if/when it occurs.
 
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wigmon said:
MD has been OK, but the other three are generally bottom feeders in the league and help pad the win totals most years.
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What! Maryland has just been okay in basketball since they joined the Big Ten conference. I know that they just got beat by Nebraska this past weekend but to just say that they have just been okay since they joined the conference is a little bit of a stretch. They have been pretty damn good if you ask me.
 
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