Who's next for Butler? Speculation centers on Thad Matta, Ohio coach Jeff Boals

INDIANAPOLIS – With LaVall Jordan out after five seasons as head basketball coach, Butler has another decision: Hire a new coach within the Butler family, or go outside for the first time in nearly a century.

If Butler looks elsewhere, the pool of candidates would be large and indeterminate.

Speculation has centered on Ohio University's Jeff Boals, a former assistant coach under Thad Matta at Ohio State. 

Boals, 49, is 59-33 in three seasons at Ohio U., including 25-10 this year and 14-6 in the Mid-American Conference. He led the 13th-seeded Bobcats to a 62-58 victory over fourth-seeded Virginia in the 2021 NCAA tournament.

Before that, Boalwas 55-42 in three seasons at Stony Brook, featuring a 24-9 record in 2018-19.

According to his contract, Boals' buyout drops from $750,000 to $650,000 on April 2 (Saturday).

Two former Butler assistants, Ryan Pedon and Michael Lewis, are out of the mix. Pedon, who interviewed for the job that went to Jordan in 2017, accepted the job at Illinois State. Lewis left his job as UCLA assistant to be Ball State.

 Another coach with Hoosier ties is Grand Canyon's Bryce Drew, former coach at Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.

• More:Butler fires basketball coach LaVall Jordan
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• More:Insider: The Butler Way? Is there one now? School badly botched LaVall Jordan firing
• State of Butler:Joining Big East was a gamble, and program is running out of chips

If Butler stays within the family, below are logical candidates.

Thad Matta

Matta is an associate athletic director hired by Indiana when Mike Woodson took over the Hoosiers. Health issues effectively ended his coaching career at Ohio State. At 54, he is young enough to get back into it if he and Collier believe he can endure the grind.

He lives across the street from Collier, who once hired Matta as a Butler assistant coach. And Matta brought a 23-year-old Brad Stevens to Butler, hiring him as director of basketball operations.

Matta coined the phrase, “The Butler Way.” He was 24-8 in his only season as Butler head coach, 2000-2001, delivering the Bulldogs’ first NCAA tournament victory in 32 years. Jordan was the senior leader of that team.

Matta has a 17-year coaching record of 439-154 (.733), averaging 26 wins a year. He was 78-23 in three years at Xavier and 337-123 in 13 years at Ohio State.

He took teams to two Final Fours, four Elite Eights (one at Xavier), five Big Ten championships and four Big Ten tournament titles.

John Groce

Since Butler introduced a basketball program in 1896-97, there is no record of the university ever hiring a coach as experienced as Groce, 50.

He was a Butler assistant under Matta. At Danville, Groce was coached by Todd Lickliter, the 2007 national coach of the year at Butler.

Groce has taken three schools to the NCAA tournament: Ohio U., Illinois, Akron.

He was a college teammate at Taylor with Chris Holtmann, who was Butler's coach for three seasons before leaving for Ohio State.

Groce just finished his fifth season at Akron, where he is 39-16 in Mid-American Conference games over the past three years and won the MAC tournament. He nearly led the 13th-seeded Zips to a first-round NCAA tourney upset of UCLA, which came from behind to win 57-53.

Groce was 95-75 in five seasons at Illinois (2012-16). He never finished above .500 in the Big Ten and missed the NCAA tournament in each of his final four years.

He is 85-56 in four years at Ohio U. (2008-11). He took Ohio to the Sweet 16 in 2011 and also won an NCAA tournament game in 2009 after the Bobcats unexpectedly won the MAC tournament.

Terry Johnson

Johnson is in his first season as a Purdue assistant. He, too, interviewed for the Butler job in 2017, then left with Holtmann and remained on Ohio State’s staff for four years.

Johnson was a beloved figure, “Coach T,” during 10 seasons as a Butler assistant, serving on the staffs of teams reaching NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011. He effectively became a defensive coordinator.

Johnson’s predecessor at Purdue was Indianapolis native Micah Shrewsberry, a former Butler and Boston Celtics assistant who just finished his first season as Penn State head coach.

Ronald Nored

Nored, too, is a beloved Bulldog. He was a point guard on those Butler teams of 2010 and 2011, a popular figure on the entire campus.

Nored is "as talented a young coach as I've been around" Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said before Friday's game against the Boston Celtics. "If this happens, it would be a great hire for Butler and a great loss for us."

Although 32, Nored has already had eight coaching stops since leaving college. That does not include a summer as an assistant for USA Basketball’s World Cup qualifying team. Nored is finishing his first season with the Pacers following three with the Charlotte Hornets.

Nored was a head coach for one year at Brownsburg High School (2012-13) and for two years in the G League with the Long Island Nets (2016-18). He was a G League assistant for the Maine Red Claws and a player development coach for Stevens’ Celtics.

David Ragland

It would be unusual to promote an assistant from the staff of a fired coach, although Ragland is expected to become a head coach soon.

He was considered to be runner-up to Walter McCarty in Evansville’s 2018 coaching search. McCarty was subsequently fired, and Lickliter is now the Purple Aces’ coach.

Ragland, 40, an Evansville native, has been an assistant at Utah State, Valparaiso, Northern Kentucky, Bowling Green and Indiana State.

He was 44-19 as head coach at Vincennes University from 2008-10.

Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.