Koufos’ High School Coach Blasts Matta
I think it’s safe to say Jack Greynolds Jr, Kosta Koufos’ head coach at Canton GlenOak High School, is not a huge fan of Thad Matta.
In today’s Canton Repository, Greynolds called Matta “clueless” based on his thoughts that Matta was to blame for the rumored poor relationship between the slow to develop big man and the OSU coach and further insinuated Matta purposely misused Koufos in an effort to keep on campus for at least one more year. The quote speaks for itself:
Listen, if you can’t get along with a kid like Kosta, then you’re clueless,” Greynolds said. “If you’re making $2 million season and can’t figure out how to use a 7-foot-1 kid, you’re clueless. If you can’t get along with a kid who comes early, stays late and gets good grades, you’re clueless, and you’ve got the problem.
Is someone backdoor lobbying for new Koufos-funded uniforms and ball rack or is Greynolds just a classless loose lip? I always assumed he was solid considering he’s the son of a high school coaching legend in those parts. And maybe he is, but those comments are out of line if you ask me.
I can get with sticking up for your (former) players but I’d hardly recommend a high school coach verbally piss all over the head coach at a major university, specifically charging the coach with purposely holding a kid back. Are you kidding me?
Matta should drive up there and remind him all he did was try and toughen up the amazingly timid and soft seven footer Greynolds sent to Columbus with the express purpose of making the kid a better player longterm.
15 Responses
Clueless is the high school coach who spouts off like that. Matta’s record speaks volumes about how clued in he is…. I guess Mr. HS coach is a genius because he found a way to effectively use a 7 footer in high school gyms around Canton.
Koufous took himself out of a number of games, played soft and seemed to be pouty when he he was getting outplayed. He downright stunk it up in a few games where he was out hustled, out-toughed by smaller men with less talent. Matta didn’t make Koufous miss a ton of shots from point blank range when they counted….
Clueless.
Steve G - June 29th, 2008 at 9:36 pm - #
Before I go into this rant, I’m sure Kosta Koufos is a nice kid. This is a rant on his talent and his attitude on the basketball court. Nothing more, nothing less.
I’d just like to know one thing. Who’s more clueless, the NBA or this idiot Greynolds? Did Greynolds watch the games Koufos played in? Based on what I saw, I’d have sat Koufos’ ass on the bench and left him there in a number of games, if it were me coaching. I thought Matta was more than patient with this kid. He is the worst 1st round pick I’ve ever seen. Basically, the only reason he’s in the NBA right now is he’s a 7 footer and he has a decent shot for someone as tall as he is. Other than that, he’s the biggest wuss (plays too soft) in the league. I don’t know about anybody else, but I would much prefer someone that big to be a bad-ass down low than to have an average finesse game. He reminds me of Granville Waiters, and trust me, that is not a good comparison of talent in my book. My personal opinion is that he won’t do anything but mop-up duty as a pro. Ever. As a matter of fact, I’m glad he’s not on the team anymore, because I thought his attitude was terrible.
This concludes my rant.
Tom Blogical - June 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm - #
Time will tell on Koufos, but this coach goes on to call some of Thad’s recruits, turds.
“Kosta really kept his composure this year and with what he’s said publicly. As much as he was getting screwed over, he always said the right things in the paper. He’s not like some of the turds they recruit. He’s a great kid. I can’t tell you how much that upsets me.”
Classy!
Corey - June 29th, 2008 at 10:27 pm - #
Unreal, really. So Matta doesn’t know what he’s doing? I guess any idiot could go out and get those 20 Ws each season.
Brian - June 29th, 2008 at 10:28 pm - #
Big 10 basketball’s a little different than rinky dink high school basketball, coach.
I guess Matta knew how to use Oden (7 foot), but not Koufos (apparently now 7′1). Riiiiight.
Matthew - June 30th, 2008 at 12:55 am - #
Koufos i’m sure is a great person, but after watchimg him for one season at Ohio State I came to realize he is softer than Cool Whip in the sun, and in my opinion I’m happy he’s not-withthe Buckeyes anymore…… Now a real basketball player by the name of Dallas Lauderdale can get a whole bunch more P.T. …… I swear Dallas’ missed dunks and Othello’s missed dunks where more powerful and agressive than any dunk every made by koufos
Alex-904 - June 30th, 2008 at 1:55 am - #
This coach is clueless if he thinks he hold any relevance other than the fact that he won the lottery and a 7′1″ greek kid moved into his high school so he could coach. Did he win with Koufus? I don’t remember any team from Canton winning state so did he missuse the kid. I think Koufus is a great player …………… in Europe. He won’t be great in the NBA b/c he is soft, if he could play and guard the 3 then he would have a chance but since he’s too slow to guard the 4 he’s in trouble. I guess it’s good he went to Utah where goofy, slow, soft white guys are the norm. I think he should take more money and go to Greece, he’ll be over there in 3 years anyway.
JoseOle - June 30th, 2008 at 7:56 am - #
What a douce this guy is… I think he got his panties in a bunch over something…. Koufos is a nice kid, but he was a puss— Matta was trying to toughen the kid up because Big-10 play and the NBA are not as soft as high school. I think the High School coach may have been catching some heat because he never made Koufos tough and he is trying to deflect the blame. It is a shame that this guy shot his mouth off, because OSU (and some other D-1 programs) will now think twice before taking players from this program.
Mitch G. - June 30th, 2008 at 8:34 am - #
I remember hearing that there was some friction with Cook too, before he left, and some really sketchy internets rumors regarding some sort of conflict with Butler, though the veracity of those are in doubt. So does Matta really have a problem? I could see where the APR/Quarter schedule conflict with the draft process could create some tension with regrds to staying in class, and Matta giving frank opinions about staying for another year to improve, and finding pt for so many good players can’t be easy…these might factor into it. It’s also more than possible that he’s just run into a couple of overprotective parents who are miffed their wonderchildren didn’t suceed as they thought they would, a la Mendenhall at Illinois. But yeah, in general, it’s poor sportsmanship to blast someone in the press unless you have some concrete complaints to back it up. You either lay out your case, or you leave it.
Glazed - June 30th, 2008 at 2:36 pm - #
I know where the coach is coming from on the holding him back comment. He did the same thing with Cook the year before. Had Cook been more involved in the offense Ohio State wins the title that year. With Kosta I’m not sure if that was the case. Offensively the buckeyes had no clue last year. Jamar bulter is more to blame than thad matta. However it is the head coach that puts you in position to be most effective. Having said that Good fuckin riddens you lil bitch. I’ve never seen a softer 7 footer in my life. If your going to play like a guard you had better be in shape.
Woody - June 30th, 2008 at 3:28 pm - #
Woody, I gotta disagree about Cook last year. He was one of the better pure scorers I’ve seen in a while at Ohio State, but he took about 70% of the time off on defense, and he handled the ball very poorly at times. Those two negatives outweigh his ablilty to shoot the rock so I can’t see how that is Thad’s fault. The fact that he was sent to the NBADL by the worst team in the NBA just strengthens my argument. A great athletic talent for sure, but not mentally tough enough to get past his own perception of himself and just do what had to be done to make himself better.
As for KK, I completely agree. The tallest pussy I’ve seen that isn’t on a giraffe. I, like 95% of the people who come to this site, am a Buckeye fanatic and usually look forward to seeing Buckeyes succeed in the next level, but not Koufos. I’m actually glad that whiney bitch isn’t playing in Columbus next year, I was tired of seeing him get pushed around by the 6′8 forwards from Penn St. and Northwestern. KK’s high school coach must be wanting some kickbacks because the only thing that Matta did that was “clueless” was buy into the KK hype. Good riddance. No loss. Maybe KK can watch BJ Mullins and Dallas Lauderdale dominate the paint next year, but he’ll probably be in Europe by that time.
Tyler - June 30th, 2008 at 6:43 pm - #
Speaking of “clueless”, how the hell did no GM see the potential in TWIGS? Probably the closest thing to the “man-child” moniker since Shawn Kemp, minus the 40 children.
Tyler - June 30th, 2008 at 6:47 pm - #
twigs will be in asia or europe hopefully. What I meant with Cook was by not playing him earlier in the year he sand-bagged him hoping he’d stay one more year. God knows last years team would have been much better with him on the floor. I can’t blame Matta for doing that its a smart move that protects the program. I agree with you 100% that Dallas and Mullens will be a force in the paint.
Woody - June 30th, 2008 at 10:32 pm - #
I was actually being 100% facetious about Twigs. Although I will admit that he is more of a force in the paint than Koufos.
Tyler - July 1st, 2008 at 9:55 am - #
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