Who is Thad Matta? He’s the college basketball coach who walked away from Ohio State at the peak of his career, spent five years wondering if he’d ever coach again, and then returned to where it all started—Butler University, the school where he met his wife, played basketball, and first learned to coach.
Born July 11, 1967, in Hoopeston, Illinois, Thad Michael Matta is an American college basketball coach currently in his second stint as head coach of the Butler Bulldogs men’s basketball team. At 58 years old, he’s achieved what few coaches ever do—becoming the winningest coach in Ohio State history with 337 victories while making two Final Four appearances.
“I was raised in a gymnasium,” Matta says. “I was the little kid sitting in the locker room after a win or after a loss listening to the coaches”. His father Jim was a high school athletic director and coach, making basketball not just a career choice but a family legacy.
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Early Life in Hoopeston, Illinois
Thad Matta grew up watching his father, Jim, a high school athletic director and coach, explain Xs and Os and discuss training philosophies. Hoopeston is a small town in east-central Illinois, where basketball runs deep in the culture.
Thad is the younger child of Jim Matta and Ellanet Matta. He has an elder brother, Greg Matta, who used to run the athletics department at a private school in Georgia and also previously worked as a college coach. Basketball wasn’t just his father’s profession—it was the family business.
As a teenager, he lived in the gymnasium of Hoopeston-East Lynn High School because his father had the keys to the building. The gym became his second home, shaping everything about his future.
High School and College Playing Career
Matta attended Hoopeston-East Lynn High School, where he was a basketball standout for the Cornjerkers. His playing ability earned him a scholarship to Southern Illinois University, but after one year, he realized it wasn’t the right fit.
He and his father then drove two hours southeast from his hometown to Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University, and quickly felt at home. “I walked around the corner, looked in the gym and thought, ‘I’m coming here. This is it for me,'” Matta says. “From that moment on, I was infatuated with Hinkle Fieldhouse”.
A basketball standout at Hoopeston-East Lynn, Matta was a two-year starter for the Butler University Bulldogs in three seasons after transferring from Southern Illinois as a sophomore. He led Butler in assists (100) and 3-point field goal percentage (.433) in 1987-88, and in free throw percentage (.872) in 1988-89.
He served as team captain on Barry Collier’s first team in 1989-90 and earned a B.S. degree in education from Butler in 1990.
Meeting Barbara: A Butler Love Story
Following college, where he met his future wife Barbara (Britton) ’93, he embarked on a decade-long career as a collegiate assistant coach. Barbara Britton was also a Butler student, and their relationship blossomed on campus.
Finally, they said the marital vows in 1996. Their wedding was done in front of their friends and families. The couple has now been married for nearly 30 years, building a life centered around basketball and Butler University.
Thad Matta is a superstitious man. During every game, he chews the same piece of gum the entire time. One game he accidentally spit the gum on the floor, picked it back up and went right on chewing. Well, it appears this has worn off on his wife, Barbara. She is known to always get popcorn and a diet Coke for every game she attends. And so they don’t feel left out, Barbara eats Lucky Charms with her two daughters (Ali and Emily) before every game.
The couple met while both undergrads at Butler University. Probably the best example of Thad’s coaching dedication was the time he called a recruit during the early stages of labor with the couple’s first child.
You can learn more about his career at https://butlersports.com/staff-directory/thad-matta-90/514.
Two Daughters: Ali and Emily Matta
Thad and Barbara have welcomed two children in their marital life of many years. Thad Matta’s daughters, Ali Matta and Emily Matta, were born in 1999 and 2001.
He was able to spend more time with his daughters, Ali ’21 and Emily ’22, who both chose to attend Butler. “It’s funny because we didn’t make them go to Butler or anything like that. It’s neat—the experiences that they’ve had here, the thought of them following in their parents’ footsteps”.
All four members of the Matta family are Butler graduates—Thad, Barbara, Ali, and Emily all earned degrees from the same university where the family’s story began.
“Our daughters were both born here,” Matta says about Indianapolis and Butler. The family considers Indiana home despite spending 13 years in Columbus during Thad’s Ohio State tenure.
Assistant Coaching Career: Building a Foundation
After graduating from Butler in 1990, Matta began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Indiana State University under head coach Tates Locke in 1990-91. He then served as an academic coordinator and administrative assistant at Butler from 1991-94.
Matta took his first full-time assistant coaching position under Herb Sendek at Miami University (Ohio) in 1994-95 and helped Miami to a 23-7 record, a Mid-American Conference regular-season championship and a first-round win in the NCAA tournament.
He spent the 1995-96 season at Western Carolina before returning to Miami under new head coach Charlie Coles in 1996-97. Matta rejoined Butler University’s staff in 1997 and helped the Bulldogs to three consecutive 20-win seasons under Barry Collier.
First Head Coaching Job at Butler (2000-01)
Matta took over as head coach of Butler when Barry Collier left after the 1999–2000 season to coach at the University of Nebraska. Matta was named 2000–01 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year in his first and only season as head coach at Butler, after leading the Bulldogs to a school record 24 wins.
Butler finished 24-8 with an MCC regular season championship, an MCC tournament championship, and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Eventual NCAA runner-up Arizona ended Butler’s run.
Xavier Success (2001-2004)
At Xavier, Matta led the Musketeers to three consecutive 26-win seasons, back-to-back Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championships in 2002 and 2003 and two league tournament titles in 2002 and 2004.
His 2004 Xavier team advanced to the Elite Eight—the program’s best finish in school history at that time. His three-year record of 78-23 (.772) put him on the radar of major programs.
Ohio State Dynasty (2004-2017)
From 2004 to 2017, Matta led the Ohio State Buckeyes to five Big Ten Conference regular season championships (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012), four Big Ten tournament titles (2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013), two Final Four appearances (2007 and 2012), and the 2008 NIT Championship. He is the winningest coach in Ohio State history.
His 2006-07 team, featuring freshman center Greg Oden and the “Thad Five” recruiting class, went 35-4 and reached the national championship game, losing to defending champion Florida. His 2011-12 team returned to the Final Four with a roster led by Jared Sullinger.
From 2004–2017, he lifted the Buckeyes to heights the program hadn’t ascended in decades. Today, with 337 victories, Matta is the winningest coach in Ohio State men’s basketball history.
But the final years were difficult. Health issues including back, foot, and nerve problems made coaching physically painful. The 2016-17 season ended with a 17-15 record—Matta’s first losing season in 17 years as a head coach. Ohio State and Matta mutually parted ways in June 2017.
After his departure from Ohio State in 2017, he received a $9 million buyout that included a $4.3 million lump sum and monthly payments through June 2020 under a mitigation clause.
Five Years Away from Coaching
Matta began a four-year hiatus in 2017, and the family returned to the Indianapolis area. He purchased Butler Men’s Basketball season tickets and enjoyed the fan experience. It allowed him to stay close to the game he loved without the stress he and his family endured for 17 years.
He was five years removed from an unceremonious split with Ohio State University. The divorce was abrupt and complicated: The student-athletes had suddenly stopped responding, five top-rated recruits left the program, and for the first time since Matta’s first season, the Buckeyes had missed postseason play.
In 2021-22, Matta spent one season as Associate Athletic Director for Basketball Administration at Indiana University, working with head coach Mike Woodson.
Return to Butler (2022-Present)
In April 2022, Barry Collier—now Butler’s athletic director—offered Matta the chance to return as head coach. “Butler is a special place, one that Barbara, Ali, Emily and I each chose as our school,” said Matta at his re-introductory press conference.
The former Ohio State basketball coach, who won a school-record 337 games over 13 seasons with the Buckeyes, earned his 500th career win in Butler’s 93-89 win over Georgetown on Wednesday, February 19, 2026, joining an elite club of college basketball coaches.
Through four seasons back at his alma mater, Matta has compiled a 62-66 record. He guided the Bulldogs to the 2024 NIT and the 2025 College Basketball Crown but has yet to secure an NCAA Tournament berth during his second stint.
As of the 2024-25 fiscal year, Matta’s compensation package—including base salary and bonuses—was approximately $2.36 million annually, placing him among the higher-paid coaches in the Big East.
Net Worth and Financial Standing
As a college basketball coach, Thad has earned a considerable amount from different universities he has coached. It is estimated that Thad Matta’s net worth is $12 million.
His wealth accumulated through:
- Ohio State salaries (2004-2017)
- $9 million buyout from Ohio State
- Xavier and Butler head coaching salaries
- Current $2.36 million annual salary at Butler
- Speaking engagements and camps
This net worth estimate accounts for decades of coaching at the highest levels of college basketball and the substantial buyout that provided financial security during his time away from coaching.
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