The Indiana men’s basketball team’s Sunday win at Michigan clinched the outright Big Ten regular-season championship. By virtue of that result, Ohio State was denied a share of the title as well as almost $80,000 in bonuses paid to its four coaches.
OSU coach Thad Matta would have received $20,000 for a share of the league’s regular-season title on top of his base salary of $3.2 million, as well as an additional year added on to his current contract, according to OSU athletics spokesman Dan Wallenberg.
Matta’s contract expires in July 2019. The three OSU assistants – Dave Dickerson, Chris Jent and Jeff Boals – missed out on a combined $58,334. Each of Matta’s assistants would have received “supplemental compensation in the amount of one month’s salary” had OSU won a share of the Big Ten title, Wallenberg told The Lantern in a Monday email.
For Dickerson, the team’s associate head coach and highest-paid assistant, a Big Ten title would have resulted an additional $21,667. Jent and Boals would have received $20,000 and $16,667, respectively.
OSU, which defeated Illinois, 68-55, Sunday afternoon to improve to 23-7 overall and 13-5 in the Big Ten, needed a Michigan win to claim a share of the regular season title for the fourth consecutive year.
The Wolverines, which led by as many as five points during the final minute of play against the Hoosiers, collapsed down the stretch before eventually losing, 72-71, in Ann Arbor, Mich., hours after the Buckeyes defeated the Illini.
Wallenberg did not immediately respond to The Lantern‘s Monday afternoon request for information regarding whether these or other bonuses would be awarded if OSU wins this weekend’s Big Ten Tournament.
Matta, who is in his ninth year at OSU, has led the Buckeyes to two Final Fours and five Big Ten titles. He and the Buckeyes will chase their third Big Ten Tournament title in four seasons when the team, seeded No. 2, begins play Friday against the winner of Purdue-Nebraska.
OSU’s game against either the Boilermakers or Cornhuskers is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the United Center in Chicago.
