Thad Matta Retires from Butler | The Boneyard

Thad Matta Retires from Butler

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People have short-term memories these days. Matta wasn’t good. He was great in his impressive tenure at Ohio State. Two Final Fours and a national championship game. His back problems really did him in. I think he saw the writing on the wall at Butler. Without a competitive NIL budget, he was fighting an uphill battle to be a top-tier squad in the Big East.
 
aceboon said:
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I just really don’t get why some of these larger basketball brand schools are so eager to hire individuals with no D1 head coaching experience, especially when the hire is in do or die territory to save the program from irrelevancy…. Just to “keep it in the brotherhood”

There are countless low and mid major head coaches who have won consistently at the D1 level on minimal resources.

Scott Cross, Eric Konkol, Takayo Siddle to name a few.

Surely ONE of those guys would jump at the opportunity to coach a storied program in the Big East, assuming Butler can get their NIL up to what the coach would want…

That’s not to say Ronald Nored can’t be a great coach. It’s just a riskier move when Butler desperately needs to get this hire right.
 
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karstenkibbe said:
People have short-term memories these days. Matta wasn’t good. He was great in his impressive tenure at Ohio State. Two Final Fours and a national championship game. His back problems really did him in. I think he saw the writing on the wall at Butler. Without a competitive NIL budget, he was fighting an uphill battle to be a top-tier squad in the Big East.
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Thad was a great coach with an impressive resume. I too, think the writing on the wall was a big part of his decision to retire. Butler is like the NC State of Indiana-they are 3rd fiddle in terms of fan interest. Indiana and Purdue are always going to be deemed the big-time schools in that state even though Butler did have an impressive back to back appearance in the NCAA Finals in 2010 and 2011.
BigErnMcCracken said:
He's a very old 58. I'm actually surprised he took the Butler job to begin with.
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He left the game, or took a sabbatical, whatever you would want to call it, due to health reasons and burn out. This is understandable and common in the high intensity and demanding profession of coaching college basketball. I hope he enjoys retirement and if he does decide to come back into the game years later, I hope he has success.
 
gsmooth said:
Thad was a great coach with an impressive resume. I too, think the writing on the wall was a big part of his decision to retire. Butler is like the NC State of Indiana-they are 3rd fiddle in terms of fan interest. Indiana and Purdue are always going to be deemed the big-time schools in that state even though Butler did have an impressive back to back appearance in the NCAA Finals in 2010 and 2011.

He left the game, or took a sabbatical, whatever you would want to call it, due to health reasons and burn out. This is understandable and common in the high intensity and demanding profession of coaching college basketball. I hope he enjoys retirement and if he does decide to come back into the game years later, I hope he has success.
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It was all health related. He could barely walk and was in constant debilitating pain. He's had several back surgeries, permanent nerve damage and drop foot along with other related pain management all stemming from his back for the past 20 years.
 
I put it in the thread about coaches not coming back that there was real flight risk with Matta, and that was early in the season when Butler looked like it would get a NCAA bid. I think this was going to be Matta's last season no matter what, but he was hoping to go out with a trip to the NCAA's. He had a pretty good team to start the year, but it came apart with injuries and limped to the finish line.

His health issues are well documented and he looks like hell. Enjoy retirement.
 
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They announced he was coming back, but now announced he is retiring. Given his health and the task of turning around Butler, I think he had second thoughts as he would have been facing this decision each season.
 
it makes sense

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