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Thad Matta (OSU's All Time Winningest Coach & 3x B1G COY, Butler HC)

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LitlBuck said:
I wonder when this Sports headline was going to be posted. Maybe there is more to do in Columbus then Dayton. Indiana had the same record as Ohio State in the Big Ten and they never had any empty seats. Of course, they are not very good in football either. The same can be said of other teams in the Big Ten but maybe there is just more to do in good old Columbus Ohio :boogie:
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Ohio State led Ohio in college basketball attendance from the day Value City Arena opened until last season. What's changed the last 2 years, other than the Buckeyes losing 29 games? :bored:
 
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LitlBuck said:
I know that you know Wesson does not weigh 300 lbs. plus he is pretty agile for a guy his size and as an added bonus he can shoot free throws and make them.
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Yeah, I just posted where he was listed, but he's a big boy. Similar build to Jared Sullinger. I said earlier this season, I think Kaleb could turn out to be a nice player, but he's certainly no "program changer." I don't know that his current abilities make a huge difference, and given this staff's recent track-record for player development, I don't know that we can expect him to blossom into much more than a "B1G Honorable Mention" level player.
Regarding Beverly, I know you have read the latest post on him in his recruiting thread (most people do not) and he seems to be a pretty good playerIMO I would not be knocking either of these guys until I see them play at the college level.
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Beverly could turn out to be a nice player, but again, I don't see him as a difference maker. The article in his thread throws out a Spike Albrecht comparison, and I can see that. Energetic kid, he'll play his heart out, and he might go off in a game here-and-there, but I don't think he has the talent to be viewed as the kind of player who can turn a struggling program's fortunes around. His purported basketball-IQ will be a welcomed addition, though.
I like the three records for 2018 especially Goodwin. You have to remember that these guys are only juniors in high school and will certainly get better by the time they enroll as Buckeyes. Plus, they are 3 out of the best 5 players in the state of Ohio if you go by rankings which I find difficult to do especially in basketball.
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I don't know, man. I think we're reaching for something to be excited about here. Basketball talent in Ohio is really down, so them being 3 of the top 5 in state doesn't say much to me. Look where they're ranked nationally. Yes, they are only Juniors, so they could get a bump next year, but right now, they're not drawing much attention nationally from the folks that get paid to evaluate them.

The bottom line is when Matta was putting Top-10 teams on the floor, he was recruiting elite talent. Consistently among the best ranked classes in the B1G and nationally. His last couple classes aren't even moving the needle. If we had a better track record of wringing more out of lower-ranked kids the last few years, I'd extend some benefit of the doubt, but we're not. Do any of these kids look like better prospects than Marc Loving, KBD, Kam Williams or Jaquan Lyle coming in? Not really. In fact, their rankings were a good bit higher than our current commits. Could the experts have been plum wrong about the guys currently on the team, and way underrating our current commits? Sure, but that's going waaaaay out on a ledge.

We obviously fundamentally disagree on where we are with Thad Matta, and that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. For the record, I've been a HUGE Matta supporter over the years, just read back in this thread, right up until this year. But I can no longer cling to the hope that he's just gonna magically turn things around with less talent than he had when he was winning, and with several years of concrete data showing that the program is barreling towards a wall. After another thoroughly mediocre/bad year, and especially after the debacle the other night, I just can't do it.
 
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Coach Thad Matta upset he needed Ohio St. AD's vote of confidence

So am I, but for very different reasons. :roll1:

"I think it's ridiculous that we have to do stuff like that. Gene and I met a couple weeks ago. It's amazing what people do nowadays. This is a very fickle business that we're in," Matta said in Washington, where Ohio State lost to Rutgers 66-57. "Unless you're intimately involved on a day-to-day basis, people choose the negative side of things. It's what they do."

Matta wasn't done.

"Obviously, gas is poured on the fire," he said. "It's sad that sports has come to where you got to do stuff like that."

Do stuff like what? Have to justify being one of the highest paid coaches in college basketball during a six year decline? I'm glad gas is poured on the fire. Obviously, something has been missing in recent years. I hope that's it, but I'll remain skeptical until it translates into improvement on the court.
 
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Matta is fat and happy. He's well paid, well fed, and his wife and daughters take his shoes and socks off for him at night. (They have to and it hurts recruiting.) The fire is gone and who can blame him. If I was him I'd rather get paid a few million dollars and go winless next year than to not coach and not get paid a few million dollars. Duh.

Fire Gene if he can't figure this out. Please. He's Dave Brandon with a winning football team.
 
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Hetuck said:
Matta is fat and happy. He's well paid, well fed, and his wife and daughters take his shoes and socks off for him at night. (They have to and it hurts recruiting.) The fire is gone and who can blame him. If I was him I'd rather get paid a few million dollars and go winless next year than to not coach and not get paid a few million dollars. Duh.

Fire Gene if he can't figure this out. Please. He's Dave Brandon with a winning football team.
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Gene Smith has a lot of flaws, but he ain't no Dave Brandon. I don't see Gene getting into email pissing matches with fans and offering free tickets with the purchase of a 20 oz Coke. Of course, it could well come to that next year when the basketball team is playing in front even more empty seats.
 
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BuckeyeNation27 said:
Who does Ohio State hire if Matt's gets fired?
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He's the 7th highest paid coach in NCAA basketball. There are a lot of guys who would listen for that kind of money. But Gene said he's not going anywhere and Thad is offended you even asked that question.

I can't wait to see what the returnees from 17-15 can do when coupled with the 10th best recruiting class in the B1G. :roll1:
 
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I know one thing, this time next year when it is a shit show again, I will not only be calling for Thad to be replaced but Gene's ass should be on the line. He has evaded some serious issues in the past and seems untouchable for some reason. Our current sad state of a basketball program, attendance, recruiting, and results are not worthy of the 7th highest paid coach in the country, no way in hell.
 
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Hetuck said:
Matta is fat and happy. He's well paid, well fed, and his wife and daughters take his shoes and socks off for him at night. (They have to and it hurts recruiting.) The fire is gone and who can blame him. If I was him I'd rather get paid a few million dollars and go winless next year than to not coach and not get paid a few million dollars. Duh.

Fire Gene if he can't figure this out. Please. He's Dave Brandon with a winning football team.
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The guy is literally crippled by a botched surgery and rather than point out how it has hurt his coaching, instead you're insulting his obesity, handicap and laziness.

You follow that up with spamming the thread with demands to fire the athletic director and comparing him to a universally mocked buffoon who ruined a pizza enterprise and literally made Michigan into a low end big east athletic enterprise (with less fan interest), eventually forced to give away tickets with soda.

Your absurd posting style undermines your ability to make credible posts and gets you into hot water with this site.

"Replace Thad" is probably the most widely held viewpoint in my lifetime when it comes to a current OSU coach, yet somehow you're finding ways to say it in such ridiculous ways that people continue to call you out on it (while feeling Thad should go). At some point you need to look in the mirror or decide whether you can adhere to the community standards here.
 
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Hstead said:
I know one thing, this time next year when it is a [Mark May] show again, I will not only be calling for Thad to be replaced but Gene's ass should be on the line. He has evaded some serious issues in the past and seems untouchable for some reason. Our current sad state of a basketball program, attendance, recruiting, and results are not worthy of the 7th highest paid coach in the country, no way in hell.
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Fire Gene because he's giving our greatest bball coach ever a couple extra years at the end? The athletic department is a lot bigger than one (non-football) sport, and honestly it's not as dire as a lot of other situations I can imagine. Mediocrity sucks right now, but I can recall a lot darker days for this program.

I think Smith just has a ton of respect for Thad all around and is hoping for a miracle. Otherwise in a year or two, I expect him to pay up and make a good hire for Matta's successor.
 
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jwinslow said:
There's a lot of Archie Miller (Dayton) chatter (who is also rumored for NC State).
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I keep debating whether or not Ohio State would stay in the same coaching tree (which Archie Miller is) if the administration were to fire Thad Matta. If he were to retire or step down, then everything is kosher.

The last time the university hired someone from the same coaching tree immediately replacing a fired coach for football or men's basketball was Earle Bruce (although Urban Meyer would count as the same tree as Jim Tressel).

But I hope Thad does some sort of reflection, figure out what is wrong and make adjustments accordingly (if he's allowed to). I don't know if he's allowed to fire people at this point.

He might need to bring in more players than Wesson and Beverly (and Funderburk) as well. He may also need to get rid of 1-2 players (which he's allowed to do, I assume). But purging players didn't help going from 2015-16 to 2016-17, so who knows.
 
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