Thad Matta adds former Ohio State basketball players to staff at Butler

Thad Matta recently returned to coaching for the first time since he was coaching the Ohio State basketball team back in the 2016-17 season. He is now at Butler where he previously coached for one season. He is filling out his new coaching staff quickly.

Two former Ohio State basketball players will be joining his staff. Greg Oden, who was Matta’s best recruit and helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2007 National Championship Game, is one of those players. He had been a player development coach on Chris Holtmann’s staff for the past few years.

The other former player that Matta recruited that is joining his staff is Jon Diebler. Diebler was a sharpshooter when he was with the Buckeyes and has recently played with his former Ohio State teammates in The Basketball Tournament. This will be his first coaching gig.

It’s interesting to see Matta bring his former players on as coaches. I think it’s a good move to bring Oden in. He is someone that aspires to be a head coach one day and he absolutely loves Matta. I’m not sure Ohio State was going to give him the full opportunities he wanted.

Diebler’s brother Jake is on staff with Holtmann still and just got promoted recently. I’m interested to see how Jon does on the coaching side of things. He will be a valuable coach to help shooters who decide to come into Butler. He also loves Matta.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Butler in my heart after growing up north of Indianapolis and seeing those Brad Stevens teams compete for national championships. Matta has always had a soft spot for Butler too. I think this is the perfect pairing for these two and I’m excited to see how he does there.