After Many Small Stops for Thad Matta, the Biggest Stage Awaits NEW ORLEANS - Thad and Barb Matta were married on a sweltering August evening in North Carolina, 11 days after their engagement. Barb bought a dress in Asheville, ordered a small white cake and planned a reception for a handful of family and friends in their $200-a-month faculty housing apartment. Thad had just accepted an assistant coaching job in 1995 at Western Carolina, but Barb told him that she would not move to tiny Cullowhee, N.C., unless they were married. Fewer than a dozen people sweated through the ceremony at the Cullowhee United Methodist Church, a modest event emblematic of Thad's humble roots. Western Carolina Coach Phil Hopkins recalled that his invitation to be Matta's best man arrived in the mail the day before the wedding. "There was sunshine coming through the stained glass windows," Barb said. It was a nice warm day. He was so hot in the church I had to wipe his face before we could kiss. With Thad Matta leading Ohio State into the Final Four this weekend, the unpretentious wedding ceremony offers a sharp contrast to both the bacchanal backdrop of New Orleans and the size of the Superdome's stage. Matta proudly calls himself a "low-major guy," and through a series of fiscally challenged, lower-tier jobs he has reached one of the premier positions in his profession. Barb Matta unintentionally summarized her husband's ascent by explaining why he could not wait a week to give his family more time to travel to North Carolina for the wedding. "Thad had to go out recruiting," she said with a laugh. Matta grew up in aptly named Hoopeston, Ill. - where the high school nickname is the Cornjerkers - and worked as graduate assistant coach at Indiana State, an administrative assistant at Butler and a restricted-earnings coach at Miami (Ohio) before catching on at Western Carolina for the 1995-96 season. Matta, 44, never had the playing pedigree or prestige of being connected to a noted coaching family. Instead, his first full-time coaching job came in tiny Cullowhee. "He made $30,000 a year and I made about $20,000," Barb Matta said. We were in hog heaven. Barb taught sixth grade but passed on the opportunity to drive a school bus through the winding mountain roads. She instead traveled the winding road of a coach's wife. She knew what she was getting into. Both her father and Thad's worked as athletic directors, and the couple met at Hinkle Field House, the Butler arena where the final scene from "Hoosiers" was filmed. Their first date was at a local bar, the Bulldog, where they ate pizza and breadsticks. The summer after their wedding, Thad and Barb celebrated with a large reception for family and friends. "We don't do things the traditional way," she said. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries when we're home and together, not the actual days. Coaching friends said Thad's willingness to work his way up from the lowest rungs has helped define him. He still fills up the tank of his rental car before returning it on recruiting trips. Matta has created an impressive coaching tree of his own. Arizona's Sean Miller, Butler's Brad Stevens, Dayton's Archie Miller, Charlotte's Alan Major and the new Illinois coach John Groce all worked for Matta. The assistant coach Jeff Boals could be next; he is considered a strong candidate to replace Groce at Ohio. "I think that's part of why Thad is who he is and what he stands for," said Hopkins, who coaches middle school basketball in Walhalla, S.C. "Thad's loyalty lies to the game. He doesn't come from a family tree. He's loyal to his team, and I'm sure that it shows. Matta began his playing career at Southern Illinois and transferred to Butler. A former S.I.U. teammate, the Nevada associate head coach Doug Novsek, said Matta's on-court demeanor and tenacity were similar to Aaron Craft, the Buckeyes" defensive menace. "He was one of the most intense competitors you would ever find," Novsek said. He had a reckless and aggressive style.