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

[Steve19]

The comparison to Fred Taylor is a good one, should Matta continue at this pace.

Any consideration of Fred Taylor's record must ignore the 1973-1976 time period. In one of the most disgusting events in the history of college sports, Minnesota players knocked Ohio State center Luke Witte out cold and then players and fans attacked Ohio State players in a game at Minnesota in 1972. When the Big Ten and the University did nothing about it, Fred Taylor lost interest in the game. I know this from the man's own lips. He was a man shattered by the experience.

Over 14 years, from 1959 to 1972, Taylor's teams were 254 - 99 (72%). They were 14-4 (78%) in the NCAA tournament, winning the national championship in 1960 and coming second in 1961 and 1962. They reached the Final Four in 1968 and the Elite Eight in 1971. The unbeaten 1972 team was projected for a deep run in the NCAA tournament prior to the attack in Minnesota.

After five years, Matta's record is 127 - 46 (73%). He has taken teams to the Final Four once, the NCAA tournament 3 times, and the NIT title once.

After five years, Taylor's record was 109 - 21 (84%). He won the National Championship, took his teams to the Final Four three times, the NCAA tournament 3 times, and never played in the NIT.

Coach Taylor is the greatest coach in Ohio State history, period.

Coach Matta has the potential to be one of our best coaches ever but we should never forget that Coach Taylor achieved this kind of performance over a period of almost 15 years. In his time, he was overshadowed perhaps only by Adolf Rupp at Kentucky.

Fans today should realize that we may be witnessing a coaching performance that eclipses Coach Taylor's. Time will tell.

 

[Padraig]

Am I missing an inside joke with the first tag, or did that get put there by one of our recently ban Siena jokers?



EDIT
Tag removed...Thank You.

 

[Wingate1217]

The comparison to Fred Taylor is a good one, should Matta continue at this pace.

Any consideration of Fred Taylor's record must ignore the 1973-1976 time period. In one of the most disgusting events in the history of college sports, Minnesota players knocked Ohio State center Luke Witte out cold and then players and fans attacked Ohio State players in a game at Minnesota in 1972. When the Big Ten and the University did nothing about it, Fred Taylor lost interest in the game. I know this from the man's own lips. He was a man shattered by the experience.

Over 14 years, from 1959 to 1972, Taylor's teams were 254 - 99 (72%). They were 14-4 (78%) in the NCAA tournament, winning the national championship in 1960 and coming second in 1961 and 1962. They reached the Final Four in 1968. The 1972 team was projected for a deep run in the NCAA tournament prior to the attack in Minnesota.

After five years, Matta's record is 127 - 46 (73%). He has taken teams to the Final Four once, the NCAA tournament 3 times, and the NIT title once.

After five years, Taylor's record was 109 - 21 (84%). He won the National Championship, took his teams to the Final Four three times, the NCAA tournament 3 times, and never played in the NIT.

Coach Taylor is the greatest coach in Ohio State history, period.

Coach Matta has the potential to be one of our best coaches ever but we should never forget that Coach Taylor achieved this kind of performance over a period of almost 15 years. In his time, he was overshadowed perhaps only by Adolf Rupp at Kentucky.

Fans today should realize that we may be witnessing a coaching performance that eclipses Coach Taylor's. Time will tell.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxnCY0CZ1pE]YouTube - 1972 College Basketball Brawl - Minnesota vs Ohio Buckeyes[/ame]

You can watch the infamous attack here. Simply disgusting starting around the 13 sec mark.....

 

[leroyjenkins]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv87T1CQF8E]YouTube - Caddyshack Clip - License to kill gophers[/ame]

That Minny vid really pisses me off!!

 

[LitlBuck]

The bad thing about that game was that Coach Taylor got no backing whatsoever from the Ohio State Athletic Administration or the Big 10. I think maybe a couple of the guys from Minnesota might have been suspended for a game but I am not even sure of that. This one game took the heart and soul for college basketball out of Coach Taylor. He was never the same coach again:(

Well, I guess we better get back to Coach Matta:)

 

[Steve19]

I did not mean to derail the Matta discussion, only to explain my reason for dropping Taylor's last few seasons from consideration, realizing that many fans are too young to remember what happened.

The thread for discussing the Minnesota attack on Ohio State players is here (link). I hope that my post doesn't lead to a lot of discussion abou that or judgments about Minnesota coaches, players, or fans today. I admit that I feel a bit funny when we go there to play but it happened in 1972, more than a generation ago.

My point was that Coach Matta has had incredible success, even when measured against the greatest Ohio State coach of all time and one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game at college level. It is a great time to be an Ohio State basketball fan, in large part because of this coach.

 

[Jimmy Carter]

I was surprised that Ohio State lost to Siena.

Thad Matta is a great coach Ohio State is lucky to have him. It is very clear that he has the right kind of values and communicates these to his players. Under his leadership, the Ohio State basketball program is, once again, a program that is respected and expected to do well.

Even successful programs can benefit from sometimes thinking about their "business model."

Under Coach Matta, the Ohio State business model has emphasized recruiting "lottery" basketball players, who play one year and leave the program. This means that Ohio State starts each year with players who are high on raw talent and low on experience in key playing positions. As teams become more experienced toward the end of the season, fans frequently comment that Coach Matta's teams "are beginning to gel."

Perhaps because it is not clear whether the lottery players will leave after one year, Ohio State has had difficulty recruiting depth in recent years, with the consequence that Ohio State frequently lacks bench strength. So, just as players begin to benefit from the effects of experience, the effects of playing so many minutes a game take their toll.

Even at this young age, and no matter how good the strength and conditioning program, the body can take so much stress. Ohio State players typically seem to enter the last part of the season and postseason showing signs of distress and fatigue, physically and mentally.

Siena is a good team, ranked #18 in RPI. But, they played a very weak schedule during the year and lost to every other top team they played. Ohio State had better coaching and playing talent and should not have lost to that team.

The Ohio State's business model is not "wrong." It might work if Ohio State played that kind of schedule--they don't. So, the question Coach Matta and his staff must now explore is, "Is our business model right for a Big Ten team and the schedule we must play every year?"

If not, should Ohio State be surprised about losing to Siena?

Coach Matta has an excellent reputation and is a master recruiter. Ohio State is very lucky to have him. I have no doubt that he understands a lot more about his business model than I do, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to suggest that he take some time and rethink it during the off-season.

Even the best of coaches need to ask not only, "Are we doing things right?" but "Are we doing the right things?" Changing circumstances and persistent results suggest that Ohio State may not be.

O'Brien unsuccessfully recruited the "one and doners' and look where that got us?

I'll take Matta's way 10 times out of 9.

 

[muffler dragon]

Any consideration of Fred Taylor's record must ignore the 1973-1976 time period. In one of the most disgusting events in the history of college sports, Minnesota players knocked Ohio State center Luke Witte out cold and then players and fans attacked Ohio State players in a game at Minnesota in 1972. When the Big Ten and the University did nothing about it, Fred Taylor lost interest in the game. I know this from the man's own lips. He was a man shattered by the experience.

Having never seen that video until tonight, I must ask, "Why the hell not?!"

The player (I'm presuming Luke Witte) gets slammed to the floor, faked into thinking he was being helped and gets kneed in the balls, and then a guy steps on his head. What. The. Fuck?!

You summed it up perfectly in one word, "disgusting".

 

[schwab]

My first view of that video wasn't long before yours muffler, maybe 2 months ago for me. I can't believe that hasn't been more publicized, but maybe I just missed it before in all of my 28 years? That was one of the most unsportsmanlike events to happen in the last 50 years, or at least going off of what video footage can provide in that time frame.

I don't think I will ever look at Minnesota the same. Ironically, I went to the OSU vs. Minnesota home game this year, and we won. That's a start for me, I guess.

 

[MaxBuck]

Bill Musselman was a thug, and he encouraged his players to be vicious thugs. Then Clem Haskins came along and made a mockery of university education at Minnesota. Consequently, I had a pure hatred of the Golden Goophers hoop squad for many years.

Dan Monsoon came along and was so inept it was hard to really hate them; how can you hate someone so feckless? But I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Minnesota lose, and lose, and lose.

Now, of course, Minnesota is coached by Tubby Smith, one of the finest men and finest coaches in D1 hoop. So it's really hard to summon up the kind of hatred for the Goophs that I once had. But Dave Winfield and Corky Behagen? They can rot in hell.

 

[schwab]

Bill Musselman was a thug, and he encouraged his players to be vicious thugs. Then Clem Haskins came along and made a mockery of university education at Minnesota. Consequently, I had a pure hatred of the Golden Goophers hoop squad for many years.

Dan Monsoon came along and was so inept it was hard to really hate them; how can you hate someone so feckless? But I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Minnesota lose, and lose, and lose.

Now, of course, Minnesota is coached by Tubby Smith, one of the finest men and finest coaches in D1 hoop. So it's really hard to summon up the kind of hatred for the Goophs that I once had. But Dave Winfield and Corky Behagen? They can rot in hell.

I didn't get to follow that period as you may have, not suggesting anything about how old you may be. I just can't believe that I attended THE greatest U in the world for 2.5 years, and never knew about the incident. Somehow it was never brought up at any time. Weird.

I am now probably going in the opposite direction that you are in regards to Minnesota, as I have just recently found out about this, and it knocks them down a few notches on the scUM meter. (scUM being the measure of units that other teams are hated on, of course)

 

[muffler dragon]

Bill Musselman was a thug, and he encouraged his players to be vicious thugs.

<snip>

But Dave Winfield and Corky Behagen? They can rot in hell.

I just got off the phone with my dad. It's my parents 36th today. Anyway, he talked about Musselman in exactly the same light. He mentioned that there was a big "ta-doo" about the Buckeyes coming up. They had the Harlem Globetrotters and such. The word he kept using was, "they went berserk", and he was referring to the team and the fans.

He said that Witte's career was more or less ended because of that game. He recalled seeing it publicized in SI and also that there were pictures of Witte's face displayed (apparently both eyes were blacked). I mentioned that the Big Ten and Minnesota didn't do a thing. He didn't know, but he wasn't surprised.

It's just wild the things that one can find out that has nothing to do with their day. Leaves a really bad taste.

Max, my dad couldn't remember if Winfield played in that game or not. Do you know?

 

[schwab]

...Max, my dad couldn't remember if Winfield played in that game or not. Do you know?

Not Max, but... link

During the 1972 season, he also was involved in a brawl when Minnesota played Ohio State.[2]

And I know you can trust Wikipedia, because

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFBDn5PiL00"]YouTube - Wikipedia[/ame]

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Ohio State basketball: The final word on the fake Colin Matta

by Doug Lesmerises Tuesday March 24, 2009, 10:31 PM

Colin Matta, supposed son of Ohio State basketball coach Thad Matta, does not exist.
But Colin the Ohio State basketball fan does.
This is the story behind the story that landed on Deadspin shortly after Ohio State's NCAA Tournament loss to Siena last week. That story reported signs near the Siena campus claiming that Colin Matta, son of Thad, was ragging on the Saints and left a number that people could call to reach Colin.
I was sent that number this week and tried to call it and got a disconnected number. But I must have done something wrong when making that call, because I called back tonight and Colin does exist, although he's not a Matta.
Paul the Siena fan, the man behind the entire thing, explained it in an e-mail to me today.
Cont...

 

[akronbuck]

I just got off the phone with my dad. It's my parents 36th today. Anyway, he talked about Musselman in exactly the same light. He mentioned that there was a big "ta-doo" about the Buckeyes coming up. They had the Harlem Globetrotters and such. The word he kept using was, "they went berserk", and he was referring to the team and the fans.

He said that Witte's career was more or less ended because of that game. He recalled seeing it publicized in SI and also that there were pictures of Witte's face displayed (apparently both eyes were blacked). I mentioned that the Big Ten and Minnesota didn't do a thing. He didn't know, but he wasn't surprised.

It's just wild the things that one can find out that has nothing to do with their day. Leaves a really bad taste.

Max, my dad couldn't remember if Winfield played in that game or not. Do you know?

bingo on all that. My older relatives use to tell me about that when I was younger. Winfield was on that team and Witte was never the same. He was going too be a STAR and he was already GREAT. :(