Thad Matta adds Greg Oden, Jon Diebler to Butler basketball support staff
David WoodsINDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis-to-Ohio State-to-Indianapolis connection continues for Butler basketball.
Greg Oden and Jon Diebler, both former Ohio State players under coach Thad Matta, are joining Matta’s Butler staff, sources confirmed to IndyStar.
Oden, 34, a former national player of the year and IndyStar Mr. Basketball at Lawrence North High School, was a graduate assistant at Ohio State last season under Chris Holtmann, the former Butler coach.
Diebler, 33, recently retired from a playing career in European leagues. He set the all-time Big Ten record by making 374 3-pointers from 2008-11.
Roles of Oden and Diebler are indeterminate. Matta’s three full-time assistants are Mike Pegues, Kevin Kuwik and David Ragland.
Matta was head coach at Butler for one season, 2000-01, before spending three years at Xavier and 13 at Ohio State. He was reappointed Butler coach on April 3.
Oden and Lawrence North teammate Mike Conley led Matta’s Buckeyes to the 2007 NCAA championship game. He was a student manager while completing his Ohio State degree from 2017-19.
He was the No. 1 overall pick of the NBA draft by the Portland Trailblazers. Oden played two seasons in Portland and one in Miami before injuries derailed his NBA career.
Diebler was also a Mr. Basketball, doing so in Ohio. He once scored 77 points in one game, averaged 41.2 as a senior and ended his high school career with 3,208 points, still the state record.
He scored 1,536 points in four seasons at Ohio State.
Diebler also was drafted by the Trail Blazers, in the second round in 2011, but never played in the NBA. He announced his retirement from pro basketball Sept. 27, 2021, after a season in Israel.
He is the brother of Jake Diebler, an Ohio State assistant coach.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.