Ohio State Basketball: Thad Matta’s blueprint for running a clean program
Thad Matta had a successful run during his time as the Ohio State basketball coach and he ran a clean program as well. His recruiting style explains why.
Early in his tenure as the Ohio State basketball head coach, Thad Matta changed his recruiting tactics putting little emphasis in one-and-done players. Losing five of those type players in a three-year stretch made him realize it was difficult to build a program with guys like that.
That could very well be why Ohio State isn’t under investigation by the NCAA, and why coach Matta had continued success.
I’m fairly certain that many of the recruiting violations in the recent NCAA scandal involved coaches going after players they expected to only coach for one year. I doubt there was a discussion of a 100,000 dollar payoff for a three-star shooting guard like the one that allegedly took place concerning one of the top players in the country.
Since coach Matta wasn’t interested in a rent-a-player he didn’t have to bid for his services, or skirt the rules in any way. His sales pitch to a recruit could just be about the merits of his program and how the player could fit in. He simply looked for talented players with good character he could develop into becoming integral parts of his team.
Some think it’s difficult to win big with that old-fashioned style of recruiting. However, while many coaches took the opposite approach which may have led to violations, few were as successful as coach Matta during the five years after he changed his recruiting tactics.
From the 2009-10 season through 2013-14, the Buckeyes never won fewer than 25 games any season and totaled 148 wins during that stretch. Ohio State finished tied for first place in the Big Ten or won the title outright three of those years, and finished second another time. Four times the Buckeyes made it to the Sweet Sixteen. One of those years they continued on to the Elite Eight, and made a Final Four appearance in another.
Even though there weren’t many five-star recruits flying around the court during that time there was plenty of excitement on the court. Watching guys like Evan Turner, Aaron Craft, David Lighty, Jon Diebler etc., was a real treat for Buckeye fans. And the fans bonded with the players as they watched them develop into outstanding players instead of watching them play for just one season.
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With the exception of the those who transferred (there will always be some who do), every player but one stayed in the program at least three years. And even Jared Sullinger came back for a second year when he would have been a high draft pick after an outstanding freshman season.
In fact, the only other player who became a one-and done before coach Matta and Ohio State parted ways was D’Angelo Russell. He left after his terrific 2014-15 season. I don’t think very many who follow college basketball predicted he would have had that kind of year and head off to the pros.
Coach Matta ended his tenure with the most wins of any Ohio State basketball coach, and he accomplished that feat by doing things the right way. Even though the last couple of years with the Buckeyes didn’t go the way coach Matta would have liked, he still left Chris Holtmann with talented “character” players to build around.
Next: Another battle against dreaded Penn State
If any allegations of recruiting violations are proven to be true, I don’t feel sorry for the coaches and universities involved. They could have just followed Thad Matta’s blueprint on how to run a clean successful program but chose to take a different path instead.