Report: Thad Matta adding pair of former Ohio State stars to Butler staff

Thad Matta is getting the band back together at Butler. Well, kind of.

Matta is hiring former Ohio State standouts Greg Oden and Jon Diebler to his bulldogs coaching staff, according to The Indianapolis Star’s David Woods. Oden played for Matta with the Buckeyes from 2006-07 before going to the Portland Trail Blazers as the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Diebler, meanwhile, wore the Ohio State uniform from 2007-11 and was, ironically, also drafted by the Trail Blazers in the 2011 NBA Draft. He ended up playing professionally in Europe.

Oden’s NBA career didn’t pan out, and he returned to Ohio State in 2016 to finish his degree. Then, in 2019, he joined the Buckeyes coaching staff as a graduate assistant under Chris Holtmann. Now, he’s reuniting with Matta, who’s getting back into coaching for the first time since 2017, in Indianapolis.

This will be Diebler’s first coaching opportunity after 10 years of professional basketball in Europe. He retired in September 2021, and now he’s joining his former coach to get into coaching.

Matta’s staff is rounding into shape well. He also hired former Louisville interim head coach Mike Pegues as an assistant coach, and also brought in former Davidson assistant Kevin Kuwik and retained Butler assistant David Ragland as full-time assistants.

More on Thad Matta’s return to Butler

This isn’t Matta’s first time as Butler head coach. He served in the role from 2000-01 before he became the headman at Xavier.

During the 2000-2001 season under Matta, Butler went 24-8 overall, 11-3 in conference play, won the regular season and conference titles, and made it to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs won their first game in the tournament before being ousted in the Round of 32. Following that season, Matt became the head coach at Xavier.

Matta spent three years at Xavier, leading the Musketeers to three NCAA Tournament appearances. Xavier made it to the Round of 32 in both of Matta’s first two seasons, and ran all the way to the Elite Eight in his third season. In those three seasons at Xavier, Matta led the Musketeers to a 78-23 overall record, including a 39-9 mark against Atlantic 10 opponents.

Ahead of the 2004-2005 season, Matta became the head coach at Ohio State. There, he amassed a 337-123 record in 13 seasons. The Buckeyes saw plenty of success under Matta. He led Ohio State to nine NCAA Tournament appearances. In those nine appearances, Ohio State made it to the championship game once, the Final Four once, the Elite Eight once, and the Sweet 16 twice. The Buckeyes won the NIT Tournament in 2007-2008 and made it to the NIT second round in 2015-2016.

On3’s Jonathan Wagner contributed to this report.