Thad Matta led Butler to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his only season as head coach. (Matt Kryger photo) | ZOOM |

        Xavier University will name Thad Matta its men's basketball coach at a news conference today.

        Matta, 33, was offered the job Wednesday after visiting Xavier's campus. He was expected to return to Indianapolis on Wednesday night to inform Butler officials and players.

        Matta coached Butler to a 24-8 record in his only season as a college head coach, setting a school mark for victories and leading the Bulldogs into the NCAA Tournament. He is one of three candidates known to have interviewed in person with XU athletic director Mike Bobinski. The others: UNC Greensboro coach Fran McCaffery and Kansas assistant Neil Dougherty.

        “That's a good call by Mike to go with Matta,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. “He's really sharp. He runs a disciplined program. The guys react to him very well. I think he's one of the guys that will be sort of up-and-coming. He will grow with the program very well.”

        Matta replaces Skip Prosser, who left after seven years to become head coach at Wake Forest.

(Mike Fender photo) | ZOOM |

        Matta will be only the third XU coach since 1985, following Prosser and Pete Gillen. Since Tay Baker took over in 1973, no Xavier coach has stayed fewer than six seasons.

        Prosser had been a head coach only one season — at Loyola College in Baltimore — before he took over Xavier in 1994-95, although he had been an XU assistant for eight seasons before Loyola.

        “When Xavier hired Skip, he didn't have the fancy pedigree, but what he did have was a load of potential, and he delivered on it in a big way,” Bilas said. “And I think they've got a similar guy. Thad's got good character. He's hard-working. He's smart. And he does things the right way.”

        Matta, a 1990 Butler graduate and former player, was named Midwestern Collegiate Conference coach of the year this season. The Bulldogs won 13 of their last 15 games.

        He also has been a full-time assistant at Butler, Miami University and Western Carolina.

(Robert Scheer photo) | ZOOM |

        Since the 1994-95 season, when he was on Herb Sendek's staff at Miami, Matta has been associated with six teams in seven years that earned NCAA Tournament berths. The other team went to the National Invitation Tournament.

        “He is a guy that fits with what he brings Xavier, and Xavier fits with what he wants, which is a program that can compete basically at the highest level,” said Nebraska coach Barry Collier, whom Matta worked for and replaced at Butler. “I think he's a guy that will stay there and commit to the university, and it would be wise for the university to reciprocate with that.”

        Last season, three Butler games drew national attention:

        • The Bulldogs lost to No. 12 Arizona 72-60 on Dec. 28 in the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Tucson, but with two minutes left, the Wildcats were ahead by only four points.

        • Butler went to Madison, Wis., on Jan. 30 and upset the 10th-ranked Badgers 58-44.

        • Butler ripped No. 23 Wake Forest 79-63 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after taking a 43-10 halftime lead.

        “I can say that they were extremely well-prepared,” said former Wisconsin acting coach Brad Soderberg, now a Saint Louis assistant. “Their offense fit their personnel perfectly. We prided ourselves on our defense ... but we simply could not stop them. We didn't say that about many teams over the six years we were at Wisconsin.

        “I was very impressed with the way Thad had them prepared. If he is going (to Xavier), they made a great choice, at least from what I saw.”

        Matta's senior year as a player was Collier's first year as Butler's coach. The team won six games.

        “What I found was, Thad really knew the game,” Collier said. “He had had back surgery prior to my getting there and was limited physically but was a thinking-man's player. ... He was really a good passer and a good shooter. He wouldn't have been very good in Skip's system as a player athletically.”

        Matta was a graduate assistant at Indiana State for one season, then returned to Butler as academic coordinator for one year and as administrative assistant for two years.

        His first full-time assistant's job came at Miami in 1994-95. Matta and Charlie Coles were assistants for Sendek. Coles later became Miami's head coach and hired Matta as an assistant in 1996-97.

        “He's got a lot of energy,” Coles said. “Thad gets along well with people. And we're in a people business. You can talk about X's and O's and all that, but I think it begins with working with people, and Thad will do just great there.

        “It doesn't hurt that he's been left with some pretty good ballplayers. But he's just the guy for that. He took over a veteran team (at Butler), and he made them better. I think he'll do the same thing with X. He's proven that he's a good coach, and they'll find out what a great person he is. He's more than ready for this challenge.”

        Collier said there should be no concern that Butler was more of a halfcourt team, compared to Prosser's up-tempo style at Xavier.

        “Clearly, with the strengths of those players, Thad will play to that, and I think he'll also help each one of them in teaching them this other style of play,” Collier said. “I don't have the least bit of concern about him being able to get the most out of the team, and whether it looks exactly like a Butler team or exactly like a Xavier team is doubtful. It's probably going to look like something in the middle. Because of the skills of the players, you can do that.”

        Collier said Matta puts a great deal of effort into individual workouts. Often, Matta will work so hard passing and rebounding, he “will come in as drenched as the players” afterward.

        “That's, in my opinion, how he'll win over the Xavier players,” Collier said. “Basically what you're saying is: "I'm on your team. Yeah, you're on my team, but I'm on your team.' Players want to get better. When you talk to somebody who can help you be a better player, that's kind of exciting.”

        Matta helped recruit all the players on this season's Butler team except one, so Collier said the notion that Matta won with Collier's players is inaccurate.

        Collier also said there should be no worries about Matta's ability to recruit to Xavier and the Atlantic 10 Conference.

        “He's a tireless worker on the recruiting trail,” Collier said. “Very personable. He reaches all the people that you have to, from the recruit himself, to the parent or parents, to the coach and the AAU guys. You'd have to be one of his targets to understand how thorough and connected he is.”

        Matta's contract at Butler ran through the 2004-05 season, a university spokesman said. Matta and athletic director John Parry had been discussing an extension through 2007-08. One issue being discussed involved a buyout clause, which his current contract does not have.

        The relationship between Matta and Parry has been strained during the past week since Matta became involved in the Xavier job.

        Parry told the Indianapolis Star on Tuesday: “He needs to balance the loyalty to Butler and his players with his own career.”

        Parry would not comment Wednesday. Matta could not be reached. Bobinski declined comment.

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