Thad Matta is gone now, and with him ends an era in Columbus. Say what you will about his tenure at Ohio State (and we have); Matta was a good coach and good man who built the Buckeye hoops program into one to be reckoned with.
But the last two seasons were abysmal, especially by the standards of a program that looked to be so ascendant just a few short years ago. Combine that uninspired on-court performance with a host of off-court issues—more transfers than a program can absorb, a shadowy exit by a star player, Matta’s own health problems—and you have a recipe for a badly-needed shakeup.