Thad Matta doesn't any hold ill will against Ohio State despite being dismissed from his position as the Buckeyes’ head men’s basketball coach in June 2017.
In his return to the Schottenstein Center on Wednesday night, Matta expressed nothing but gratitude.
For the first time since his dismissal two summers ago, Matta was in attendance to watch the team he once coached, and he was honored by Ohio State during halftime of the Buckeyes’ Big Ten/ACC Challenge game against Syracuse on Wednesday night in Columbus.
After a banner in Matta’s honor was unveiled from the rafters above Ohio State’s basketball court, Matta – with his wife and his two daughters standing alongside him – became choked up as he spoke to the crowd in attendance and thanked Ohio State, his former players and staffers and Buckeye fans for all that they did for him during his 13-year run as OSU’s coach.