The Ohio State Buckeyes need a new men's basketball coach. The Buckeyes announced Monday that head coach Thad Matta would not return to OSU, effective immediately.
"We came to a mutual understanding, and it was time for a change in the basketball program," athletic director Gene Smith said at a press conference with Matta today. "This may be a surprise to me. I think it's the right thing for our program at the right time."
Smith also said that the recruiting this year, namely the poor results OSU had, are a major reason behind the move.
"I felt comfortable after the season when I sat down with Thad that we had a plan. Recruiting is a major part of it, and we weren't winning the recruiting battles," Smith said. "As we started talking about it Friday, the flow of the conversation took me to the realization as I said to him, 'This might be the time to make a leadership change,' and he agreed."
The Buckeyes said a national search for a new coach would begin right away. It's late in the offseason for the Buckeyes to search for a new coach. Pete Thamel of SI has a list of names the Buckeyes apparently want, although some of those names seem highly unlikely.
List for OSU: Xavier's Chris Mack, Arizona's Sean Miller, Texas Shaka Smart, Cincy Mick Cronin, VT's Buzz Williams, Butler's Chris Holtmann
— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) June 5, 2017
247Sports reported earlier Monday that Matta would coach for another year and then retire. That is clearly not the case for Matta, the school's leader in wins (337-123). In 13 years, Matta led the Buckeyes to two final fours and nine NCAA tournament berths, but OSU had struggled in recent years. ESPN reports Matta wants to keep coaching, although there are health issues he's battled.
Matta said during the press conference he hasn't ruled out coaching again, but that he wants to get healthy.
This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.
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