Thad Matta to Butler

[Evariste Galois]

If Thad Matta wants and can physically coach again, there is no way he was staying as an assistant AD.

If nothing else, he was probably making ~ $500k as an assistant AD and would command at least a few million as a head coach. That is a lot of money to leave on the table. 

[LamarCheeks]

1 hour ago, Evariste Galois said:

If Thad Matta wants and can physically coach again, there is no way he was staying as an assistant AD.

If nothing else, he was probably making ~ $500k as an assistant AD and would command at least a few million as a head coach. That is a lot of money to leave on the table. 

I think he made $4M or $5M a year while coaching at Ohio State -- and got a $9M buyout when they let him go. I would hope money isn't an issue for him. 

Someone -- not sure exactly who -- speculated the plan was for him to coach at BU for 2-3 seasons, then possibly take over as AD. That seems to make sense. 

[Golfman25]

2 hours ago, GnarlyTimGarl said:

In my opinion, Matta's inclusion to the IU program was weird from the start. He was mentioned as an addition to the program the very same day Woodson was hired which gave the general public a reasonable expectation that he would be an active member of the program from the public's perspective. But yet we hardly ever heard anything about his contributions to the program throughout his year at IU. Was there ever even an interview issued for public consumption? Does anyone really know what he actually did? I know he was in administration but that is very vague. And again, his hire was mentioned the SAME DAY as Woodson's hire. I doubt that was a coincidence.

The more I think about it, the more I feel that the inclusion of Matta (and even Fife later on) was a tactical move by the Athletic Department to pacify some of the fanbase/media who had concerns about bringing in an older NBA guy/alum as head coach who didn't have any college coaching experience. Perhaps they thought adding the Big Ten pedigrees of Matta and Fife would lessen the skepticism of a Woodson hire. If that is true then I am left disappointed. If Woodson was/is your guy... he's your guy. Let him build the program HIS way and stay out of the way. Don't force marriages on him. If the athletic department felt that he needed specialized help like a Matta (or Fife) to make the Woodson era work then I don't believe they should have picked Woodson in the first place.

But I could be way off base. I don't care. Let's just win games.

Smart people, get smarter people to work for them.  If I am a new guy, I am using these people's minds to the maximum extent possible.  

[Chris007]

1 hour ago, LamarCheeks said:

I think he made $4M or $5M a year while coaching at Ohio State -- and got a $9M buyout when they let him go. I would hope money isn't an issue for him. 

Someone -- not sure exactly who -- speculated the plan was for him to coach at BU for 2-3 seasons, then possibly take over as AD. That seems to make sense. 

That was me, it came from someone in the Butler athletic department

[ap2345]

16 minutes ago, Chris007 said:

That was me, it came from someone in the Butler athletic department

Who he hires as assistants will be telling if this is a short term hire. 

[Chris007]

1 minute ago, ap2345 said:

Who he hires as assistants will be telling if this is a short term hire. 

I would love to see him get Norad

[Demo]

11 minutes ago, Chris007 said:

I would love to see him get Norad

Should that offer arise, and I can’t imagine it won’t, it will be an interesting choice for Nored given that he’s probably 2 yrs from an NBA HC gig. 

[RaceToTheTop]

Four words:  assistant coach Brad Stevens.

[ap2345]

Sounds like Fife is on the verge of heading to Butler 

[jk34]

1 minute ago, ap2345 said:

Sounds like Fife is on the verge of heading to Butler 

Good opportunity for him 

[Chris007]

15 minutes ago, ap2345 said:

Sounds like Fife is on the verge of heading to Butler 

Do you think that means Matta is against the NIL also?

[MyDRockHard]

Do you think that means Matta is against the NIL also?

Mark Titus made a Twitter video reacting to Thad going to Butler. In it, he was insinuating that Ohio St went downhill in Matta's later years cause he didn't cheat while most others did. Sounds like he's pretty committed to keeping a squeaky clean program. Not sure if that means he'll be stuck in his ways and ever feel comfortable with bags getting handed out to recruits.

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[str8baller]

2 hours ago, Chris007 said:

That was me, it came from someone in the Butler athletic department

It makes all the sense in the world and aligns with a few small things I had heard (all 2nd and 3rd hand info).  
 

Think big picture: they have had the “Butler Way” there for 20-ish years. That’s included hiring from within and almost always having a strong pipeline of future coaches as assistants. It’s been incredibly consistent and had not failed them yet.  I had heard that they were slightly pushed into the Jordan hire. It did not work out and they lost their continuity of coaching succession. Bringing Matta back for a few years allows them to restabilize the program. That includes not only winning but getting the right up and coming coach on the staff and ready to take over. This is where Matta will excel. I doubt he’ll be doing the heavy recruiting (or maybe even alumni events) like he would have been expected to at a place like IU. 
 

I have no knowledge of whether this is the plan or not, but it makes a lot of sense from the outside looking in. Matta gets one last shot at coaching in a lower stress environment than a place like IU, gets to help his alma mater, and the inside track to an AD spot. Butler gets a proven former coach who can help them get back on track on the court and replenish their stable of promising assistants. 

[Chris007]

5 minutes ago, IGotMeAWoody said:

Mark Titus made a Twitter video reacting to Thad going to Butler. In it, he was insinuating that Ohio St went downhill in Matta's later years cause he didn't cheat while most others did. Sounds like he's pretty committed to keeping a squeaky clean program. Not sure if that means he'll be stuck in his ways and ever feel comfortable with bags getting handed out to recruits.

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Well, I asked a friend in the Butler athletic department and he said Barry Collier is of the old mindset. So I'm guessing that means Matta is also, and already knew Fife was. Going to be hard to compete in the Big East when other teams have NIL money. Butler is already has the lowest basketball budget and some of the worst facilities in the Big East

[RoadRage]

On 4/3/2022 at 12:25 PM, hoosierdogg said:

Barry Collier is 67.  Could this be a succession plan for the Butler AD position?  Matta in place for a short term to hopefully restore success on the court before hiring a longer term solution.

Bingo...too bad we don't need an AD!

[Josh]

18 minutes ago, IGotMeAWoody said:

Mark Titus made a Twitter video reacting to Thad going to Butler. In it, he was insinuating that Ohio St went downhill in Matta's later years cause he didn't cheat while most others did. Sounds like he's pretty committed to keeping a squeaky clean program. Not sure if that means he'll be stuck in his ways and ever feel comfortable with bags getting handed out to recruits.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
 

Wait...what?  Lol.  Matta got plenty dirty at O$U

[ap2345]

The narrative that these coaches are against NIL is so stupid. 

[IUc2016]

2 minutes ago, ap2345 said:

The narrative that these coaches are against NIL is so stupid. 

So what's Dane's opinion on it then? He tweeted he was against it didn't he? and I have heard from more than one person that he got into it with Filipowski about NIL on his visit.

just curious 

[Hovadipo]

5 minutes ago, ap2345 said:

The narrative that these coaches are against NIL is so stupid. 

How is it a stupid narrative if there are coaches that are actually against NIL? And I'm not even talking about Dane.

[ap2345]

Just now, IUc2016 said:

So what's Dane's opinion on it then? He tweeted he was against it didn't he? and I have heard from more than one person that he got into it with Filipowski about NIL on his visit.

just curious 

No clue but it’s the way things are and it’s not going away. Guys will adapt. It would also be interesting to know if he’s against NIL or the way Texas A&M is doing things. One is legal the other not so much and some fans/players don’t know the difference. Time will tell but there is zero chance a college coach would die on that hill.