When he heard that “Today” show producers were planning a segment taking the show’s on-air personalities back to their college alma maters, Matt Lauer didn’t think twice about the timing of his Ohio University visit.

Lauer, co-host of the popular NBC morning show, used as his backdrop the thousands of green-and-white-clad alumni who returned to campus for Homecoming in late October. While visiting old haunts, including his freshman room in James Hall, Lauer greeted students and alums crossing campus to attend the Homecoming parade, football game and other events.

“The great things about the University and the town haven’t changed,” Lauer said while taping a segment on a colorful, leaf-covered College Green. “It still has the same great feel it had 20 years ago. This is the quintessential college campus. When I first saw the College Green, I got goose bumps again.

“It literally feels like being in a time machine, spinning the dial and, again, it’s 1975.”

Lauer, a communication major, attended Ohio University from 1975 to 1979 before taking an internship with a television station in Huntington, W.Va. He later completed his degree requirements and was the featured speaker at his own commencement in 1997.

After the morning taping on the College Green, Lauer and an entourage of regional media walked to his former apartment above Baron Men’s Shop on Court Street. A mass of student revelers cheered as he joined them on the apartment’s patio, a perfect perch for the Homecoming Parade down Court Street.

“He’s very friendly and wasn’t at all pretentious,” says senior Betsy Harding, who had her photo taken with Lauer. “And he’s better looking in person.”

Freshman Adam Thome was at a swim meet and didn’t get to welcome Lauer into his old residence hall room — 135 James Hall — but he did catch up with him later that day.

“Matt seems like a real nice guy, really down to earth,” he says.

Lauer has been equally impressed by the students he’s met on his visits to campus.

“The nice thing is to have the students come up to me and say ‘thank you’ for coming back. I don’t think I was that sophisticated when I was their age.”

— Jack Jeffery