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

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Dispatch

Ohio state men's basketball
Matta has surgery on back again

Saturday, August 4, 2007 3:33 AM

Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta underwent surgery on his lower back this week for the second time in seven weeks, an athletics department spokesman confirmed yesterday.

Spokesman Dan Wallenberg said the procedure Wednesday was "at one level lower" than June 16, when Matta said he had surgery on a herniated disk between the fourth and fifth vertebrae.
Matta was left with no feeling in his right foot after that operation and was forced to walk with the aid of a cane. Despite the handicap, he made it to New York less than two weeks later to see Buckeyes Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. selected in the first round of the NBA draft, and he traveled as far as Las Vegas during the July recruiting period to watch prospects play.

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I am not a orthopedic surgeon and I did not stay and a Holiday Inn Express last night but Coach Matta's multiple surgeries (4) concerns me a little. Anytime you have back surgery things usually don't get better but only deteriorate. Hopefully, he will not be forced into early retirement due to his back.
 
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Ohio State probably hasn't seen someone like Matta, either.

He's about as energetic and intense a coach as there is in the sport.

Matta bops around constantly, seemingly never standing still. The problem is that he is in a complete slow-down mode this summer.

Matta had his third and fourth back surgeries in his life since the title game in Atlanta. The first one was to remove a herniated disc. That surgery made him extremely limited on the recruiting trail earlier in the summer. He couldn't drive and was still in pain. He ended up coming off the road for the latter part of the July evaluation period.

Matta was bothered enough that he went in for a second surgery to clean out one of the nerve canals around his L-5 vertebrae.

This week, Matta was tossing high fives with trainers because he had movement in his calf.

"That was big for me," Matta said.

He's back to strengthening his core and he's driving again.

"I think I'm going to be in good shape," Matta said. "But I'm very careful where I move right now."

The challenge for Matta will be to restrain himself once practice starts next month. School starts next week and Ohio State will begin individual workouts but Matta will be much more reserved then. Once practice starts, Matta's traditional hands-on approach is shelved for the foreseeable future. Instead, he told his assistants, "Your ass is going in to demonstrate."

Meanwhile, Matta couldn't be more pleased with Kosta Koufos' MVP performance for the Greek junior national team this summer.

"He was apprehensive at first since that team had been together, but hopefully he'll get a taste of what he's going to do [in college]," Matta said.

The competition was intense as Greece made it to the gold medal game of the European U-18 championships in Madrid last month. Koufos averaged 26.5 points, 13 boards and 3.5 blocks.

Koufos is the heir apparent to take over for Oden in the middle, although he won't be feeling too much heat with the return of Othello Hunter, Kyle Madsen (who sat out last year as a transfer), Matt Terwilliger and Dallas Lauderdale.
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http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3019595&name=katz_andy&univLogin02=stateChanged
 
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OSU mum about Matta contract

lantern
Buried deep within the "personnel actions" section of a 70-plus page Ohio State Board of Trustees preview lies a small note about men's basketball coach Thad Matta and his contract - perhaps an early hint at what could be a one-year extension.

"THAD M. MATTA, addendum to employment agreement. Term of contract: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2016."

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Contract extension and Raise

Bucknuts

Posted by Dave Biddle
An addendum was approved to the contract of Ohio State?s Thad Matta by the Ohio State Board of Trustees Friday.

The amendment provides for an increase in compensation and makes clear that he earned an additional ?extension year,? which will keep Matta, now in his fourth year as head coach of the men?s basketball team, under contract until 2016 at Ohio State. He earned an extension year through the 2015-16 season by virtue of winning the 2007 Big Ten regular-season title.

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