Former Ohio State legendary coach Thad Matta calls it a career after 21 seasons in college basketball.
Job well done, Thad Matta.
After 21 seasons in college basketball, the legendary coach is calling it a career and officially retiring from the game.
Matta finished his career with a 502-223 record across three different programs. His career began at Butler in 2000 before a three-year stint at Xavier and then a 12-year tenure at Ohio State before he returned to where it started at Butler for his final three seasons.
On Matta's resume are 16 seasons with 20-plus wins, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, seven conference tournament championships, three seasons with over 30 wins, and two final four appearances.
Matta's time in Columbus was a special time for Ohio State's basketball program. It was absolutely the golden age for the Buckeyes as they had several teams that were national powerhouses. He had five different teams ranked in the top-5 and six teams that received top-10 recognition.
In his career at Ohio State, he coached in 460 games and had a record of 337-123, good for a winning percentage of 73 percent.
Simply put, his teams in Columbus were awesome and were a force to be reckoned with.
The best season that he had at Ohio State was the 2006-2007 team that was regarded as the best team in the country for most of the year. That was maybe the best year on that Ohio State campus as the Buckeyes football team went all the way to the National Championship before being blown out by Florida, and unfortunately, the basketball team did the exact same thing.
Led by Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., and David Lighty, the Buckeyes' hoops team put together an incredible season. They finished with a record of 35-4 and had a 15-1 record in Big Ten play.
The tournament run they went on was "madness" personified. After blowing out Central Connecticut State in round one, they went to overtime against Xavier, they beat Tennessee by one, and they beat Georgetown by 7 in the final four. When they met Florida for the rematch, they were simply outmanned and lost by nine.
The other Final Four run that Matta orchestrated came in the 2011-12 season, where he took the Buckeyes back to the semi-finals, but again they came up short. That year, Ohio State finished 31-8 on the year and 13-5 in the Big Ten.
Matta had the Buckeyes competing at the top of the sport, right where they are supposed to be. Ohio State has been searching ever since for what they once had during those Matta years, and they will have to continue that search as Thad Matta officially calls it a career.
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