Alan Major began his second stint on the Ohio State men’s basketball staff in 2016-17 after most recently spending five years as the head coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. When Matta took over the Ohio State program in 2004-05, Major joined the Buckeyes after coaching with Matta at Xavier the previous three seasons.
Now that he is back in Columbus, Major will assume a different role, one that will help the Ohio State program in a non-coaching capacity as the director of recruiting and player development. “Alan has many skills and talents above and beyond those he’s utilized as a coach over the years,” Matta said. “I want him to help us develop a complete and well-rounded student-athlete. Alan is the perfect fit for this position.”
Major’s duties in his new role include developing a plan for each student-athlete to maximize potential as a basketball player, student and human being. He also will assist in recruiting activities, arranging officials visits, hosting prospects and their parents, updating recruiting boards and providing daily recruiting updates to the coaching staff.
Success has followed Major over his career, much of it at Matta’s side. For the nine years prior to joining UNC-Charlotte, he worked under Matta at Ohio State (6 years) and Xavier (3 years). In those nine years, he participated in seven NCAA Tournaments, including three “Sweet Sixteen’s” and one national championship game (2007).
Major has an 18-year assistant coaching background, including stints at Pacific, Southern Illinois and Cal Lutheran. A native of Indianapolis, Major graduated from Purdue in 1992. While at Purdue, Major served as a manager for Gene Keady’s Boilermakers. He received his master’s in education with an emphasis on physical education from Cal Lutheran in 1995.
Major was at Ohio State for six seasons, helping the Buckeyes to a 156-54 record, four NCAA Tournament appearances, a school-record 35 wins in 2006-07, three outright Big Ten regular-season titles and two league tournament titles. In 2009-10, Ohio State reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen after winning both the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. In 2007, the Buckeyes reached the NCAA National Championship game and in 2008, they won the National Invitation Tournament title.
Major was instrumental in the recruitment and development of such players as Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequan Cook, Byron Mullens, Kosta Koufos and Evan Turner at Ohio State. All were NBA first round draft choices while Turner swept the 2010 National Player of the Year awards, including the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy and the USBWA, Associated Press and NABC Player of the Year awards.
Prior to his time at Ohio State, Major coached NBA first round choice David West at Xavier and NBA No. 1 draft choice Michael Olowokandi at Pacific.
In his three seasons at Xavier, the Musketeers went 78-23 with three NCAA appearances, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2004. He coached for a total of five seasons at Pacific, and helped the Tigers to the 1997 NCAA Tournament. He coached for one season at Southern Illinois under current Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber. His career began at Cal Lutheran where he helped the Kingsmen to a 61-22 record in three seasons, including trips to the NCAA Div. III Tournament in 1993 and 1994.
