So Collier, now Butler's athletic director, fired his former player LaVall Jordan last week and replaced him two days later with his former assistant. Butler is also coming off its first back-to-back losing season since 1988-90. Now Matta must rebuild a program that hasn't appeared in an NCAA tourney since 2018, though they probably would have made it in 2020 when the event was canceled because of COVID-19, and hasn't been to the Sweet 16 in five years. But as Matta continued winning with the Musketeers and later at Ohio State, where he posted a school record 337 of his 439 career wins, Butler's program continued to ascend.ĭespite going through five coaches and two conference changes over the next 17 seasons, the Bulldogs made 11 more NCAA tourney appearances - a run that included back-to-back national runner-up finishes in 2010 and '11. When Butler lost to Arizona in the second round and Matta left for Xavier, many thought the Bulldogs had peaked. They posted a then school-record 24 wins in Matta's first and only season, won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament title and beat Wake Forest for their first NCAA tournament win since 1962. This will be a very different situation from the one Matta inherited in 2000-01.īack then, the Bulldogs were an emerging mid-major power. So when the call came, I wanted to get back and be a Butler guy again." "There's something special about a Butler guy. "I had no idea that The Butler Way was going to stick the way it did," Matta said, drawing laughter. Matta said Wednesday he coined "The Butler Way" one day after then-coach Barry Collier accepted the Nebraska job, putting Matta in line as the replacement. They like the fact he's a proven winner with a championship pedigree who has a deep understanding of Butler's unwavering principles. That's what I love about Butler University." "You get what you deserve here you have to go out there and you earn it. "What I love about Butler is that Butler is old school in a new world," Matta told the welcome wagon crowd gathered inside Hinkle Fieldhouse. So when the call came, I wanted to get back and be a Butler guy again." AP Photo/Darron Cummings Thad Matta said Wednesday that the uniqueness of Butler is a big reason why he opted to return. On Wednesday, more than 20 years after Matta left his alma mater, the 54-year-old former Ohio State basketball coach was reintroduced to a fan base that embraced him for three seasons as a player, six seasons on the coaching staff and that one, memorable season he ran the show. This time, he hopes to stick around a little longer - with a familiar script that helped the Bulldogs reach unprecedented heights in the decade following his departure.
INDIANAPOLIS - Thad Matta's first head-coaching tenure at Butler lasted one season.
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