Thad Matta Hiring Ohio State Greats Greg Oden and Jon Diebler at Butler

By Kevin Harrish on April 19, 2022 at 2:27 pm
Oden and Diebler
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Thad Matta is back in college basketball, and a couple of his former Buckeye players are joining him.

The former Ohio State coach is bringing some Buckeye flavor to his new staff as Ohio State greats Greg Oden and Jon Diebler are set to join Matta’s staff at Butler.

David Woods of the Indy Star was the first to report the news.

Oden spent last season as a graduate assistant at Ohio State under Chris Holtmann after previously serving as a student manager while finishing his degree. Diebler steps into the coaching ranks for the first time after recently retiring from his professional career.

It's unclear what Oden and Diebler's roles will be, but they will not be among Matta's full-time assistants as those roles are already filled with Mike Pegues, Kevin Kuwik and David Ragland.

Both Oden and Diebler played their entire collegiate careers under Matta at Ohio State. Oden helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2007 national title game before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Diebler played four years for Ohio State and left as the program's all-time leader in three-pointers.

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