Thad Matta was successful at Butler, Xavier and Ohio State, but his back issues derailed his career with the Buckeyes. TNS

Indiana strongly denies report about Thad Matta failed physical

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 3/23/21

Indiana’s athletic department is strongly denying a report surrounding head coach candidate Thad Matta.

Matta is said to be one of the candidates for the Hoosiers job. Late on Monday, Indiana’s Rivals website reported that the Hoosiers had a deal to make Matta their head coach. They said the deal fell apart due to a failed physical.

The Rivals site was the only outlet to report the news. Meanwhile, other reporters shot it down.

The Indianapolis Star’s Zach Osterman was told that the report was off base.

Source within IU's athletic department tells me reports Indiana agreed a deal with former Ohio State coach Thad Matta that then fell apart due to medical concerns are wide of the mark. Search remains ongoing. #iubb

— Zach Osterman (@ZachOsterman) March 22, 2021

247 Sports’ Jeff Rabjohns reported the same thing.

Regarding Thad Matta: There was no agreement and there was no physical, a source close to the athletic department tells Peegs.

The source reached out and made this point with considerable emphasis. #iubb

— Jeff Rabjohns (@JeffRabjohns) March 22, 2021

Matta is actually in Indiana and was supporting Creighton, where his former assistant, Jeff Boals, is an assistant coach.

You may recall that when Matta abruptly left Ohio State in 2017, there was a focus on his health issues. Mike DeCourcy reported at the time that Matta had chronic issues stemming from a back surgery several years earlier.

“I went through a year where I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t take my shoes off after a game. I couldn’t take my pants off after a game,” Matta said. “The stuff I had to go through in terms of being serviceable … but, maybe to a fault, I always fought.”

The 53-year-old was successful at Butler, Xavier and Ohio State, but his back issues derailed his career with the Buckeyes. He has been mentioned for several other jobs but never took any of them. He was far down the line with Georgia in 2018, but things didn’t work out.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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