Conflicting Reports Emerge About Whether Thad Matta Failed Physical After Agreeing to Become Next Indiana Basketball Coach
Former Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta has been rumored to have interest in returning to the college game and with the Indiana Hoosiers job open, Matta's name has been linked to the job.
According to a Rivals report first published on TheHoosier.com, Matta and the Indiana Hoosiers had agreed to a contract that would have made Matta the new head coach at Indiana University, but the deal fell apart after Matta failed his physical.
But in the hours since that report went public, conflicting reports are emerging and it appears that Matta was never offered the job.
An unnamed source within the IU athletic department tells Zach Osterman from the IndyStar that the Hoosiers did not have any such agreement with Matta. Osterman acknowledged that Matta wants to return to coaching under the right circumstances and that Indiana's search for a new coach is "ongoing."
Further, a source tells Tom Brew at HoosiersNow that the Rivals report is "completely not true ... Thad Matta has not been offered the job here. Everything about their report is completely false.''
Since leaving the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2017, it was assumed that Matta was in better health and able to return to coaching. His name has been rumored in a few different major college coaching searches recently, but none of them had worked out. Matta is only 53 years old and has had both back and leg/foot injuries that have prevented him from being on the sideline.
The Hoosiers fired Archie Miller last week after four below average seasons in Bloomington. Miller was hired to replace Tom Crean in the spring of 2017, but he was never able to turn the basketball-crazed Hoosiers into a consistent competitor in the Big Ten. Indiana has won five national championships in basketball, but none since 1987.
Miller went 67-58 in his four years after arriving from the University of Dayton, where he reached an Elite Eight, made four NCAA Tournaments and won two A-10 titles.
Several names have been linked to the Hoosiers job opening since Miller was fired, including former Michigan coach John Beilein, current Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard and current New York Knicks assistant coach Mike Woodson.
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