It appears former Ohio State head coach Thad Matta is indeed headed to Indiana, but not as its next head coach. Instead, according to the Indy Star, Matta is being hired by the Hoosiers as an associate athletic director of basketball administration, tasked with assisting new head coach Mike Woodson off the court.
Matta’s role will not include an assistant position on Woodson’s staff and appears to be completely aligned with helping put a staff together and providing support in an administrative role outside of the competitive environment. He will handle “off-campus duties” as well — whatever that means.
It’s kind of a curious move and makes you wonder if reports about Matta being the prime candidate were true until he failed a physical. Those reports were denied by the Indiana administration. I mean, if you trust a guy to be a head coach, why does he need a created position to help fill some of the roles a head coach would typically take care of?
IU is hiring former Butler and Ohio State coach Thad Matta as associate AD for men's basketball administration. Matta will assist an IU staff that will be led by new coach Mike Woodson.
— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) March 28, 2021
Regardless, Matta is clearly a large figure that can help the program, Before departing Ohio State after 13 seasons, Matta finished his career in Columbus as the winningest head coach in OSU history, went to two final fours, one NCAA championship game, and won five Big Ten regular-season titles to go with four Big Ten Tournament championships.
We’ll just have to wait to see how this whole experiment works I guess. Despite the weird setup, congrats are in order for Matta.
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