Don Matthews

[edit] Biography

Born in Massachusetts, Don Matthews is the winningest coach in CFL history (223 in regular season, 13 in the playoffs, and five in the Grey Cup) and the only coach to win the Grey Cup in four different decades. In 27 seasons as both an assistant and a head coach, Matthews’ teams have made the post-season an incredible 26 times. The only time he did not make the playoffs was 1991 when he took over the 1-6 Saskatchewan Roughriders in mid-season.

Matthews served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps and joined the University of Idaho Vandals football team as a walk-on. By the time he graduated four years later, Matthews was team captain. He moved into the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant with Idaho and then held high school coaching positions in Nevada and Washington. He returned to Idaho in 1970, as the school’s offensive coordinator and then took up the head post at Sunset High in Portland, where he lead the team to back-to-back state titles.

He started his pro coaching career in 1977 as a linebacker coach with the Edmonton Eskimos. The following season, he became defensive coordinator and was part of the Eskimos’ dynasty that captured five consecutive Grey Cup titles in 1978-82. In 1983, he was named head coach of the British Columbia Lions and took the Lions to their first Grey Cup in 19 years, only to lose to Toronto. Matthews led these same Lions to the 1985 Grey Cup, beating Hamilton at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. For his role in the B.C. turnaround, Matthews earned his first CFL Coach of the Year honour. In the five years he was in B.C., the Lions finished first in the West four times.

In 1989, Matthews returned to Edmonton as a defensive coach, and quickly helped build the CFL’s best defence. He joined the Argos for the first time in 1990 and built an explosive offence around former Eskimo quarterback Matt Dunigan and Mike “Pinball’’ Clemons. The Boatmen rang up 689 points and advanced to the East Division Championship. Matthews spent one season as head coach of the Orlando Thunder of the WLAF and then returned to the CFL in 1991 to rebuild the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The “Matthews Magic’’ worked again when the ‘Riders made the playoffs in 1992 and 1993.

In 1994, Matthews was named the first head coach and director of football operations of the expansion Baltimore Stallions CFL franchise, leading the Stallions to a 12-6 record and a spot in the Grey Cup championship game. In 1994, he became the sixth CFL coach ever to record 100 regular season wins and the second fastest to do so; Bud Grant did it in 151 games while Matthews did it in 158. The following year, Baltimore defeated Calgary to win the 1995 Grey Cup. The Stallions then relocated to Montreal, while Matthews accepted the head coach and general manager position with the Toronto Argonauts in February 1996.

The arrival of Coach Matthews and quarterback Doug Flutie in Toronto sparked an amazing turnaround for a team that had gone 4-14 in 1995. Matthews reeled off nine straight wins and 15 in total, to win the East Division title. Toronto defeated Montreal and then bounced Edmonton in Grey Cup 1996 in Hamilton. The following year, the Argonauts picked up where they left off winning 10 straight games. On October 18th, 1997, Coach Matthews broke the legendary Frank Clair’s record of 147 CFL regular-season coaching wins. Matthews capped an amazing year by winning his fourth CFL Coach of the Year award.

Matthews was named head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos in 1999 ending the season with the worst record of his career, 6-12. The following year, he returned to his winning ways with the Eskimos, posting a 10-8 season. In 2000, Matthews left the Eskimos.

In 2002, Matthews led the Montreal Alouettes to a record 13 wins and the organization won its first Grey Cup in 25 years, defeating the Eskimos in their own stadium. Matthews was named Coach of the Year for the fifth time at CFL Coach of the Year luncheon in Edmonton in January 2003.

In 2003, Matthews again led the Alouettes to a 13-5 record, and another first-place finish in the Eastern Division. The Alouettes rolled over the Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern final at Olympic Stadium in front of more than 60 000 fans and went on to the Grey Cup game in Saskatchewan.

In 2004, Matthews led the Alouettes to their best regular season record ever, finishing with 14 wins and four losses. The first-place finish was the tenth by a Matthews-coached team, a CFL record.

In 2005, the Alouettes had another winning season finishing second in the East Division. The Als defeated the Roughriders in the East semi-final and upset the Argonauts in Toronto in the East Championship and went on to the Grey Cup game for a third time in four years under Matthews. They lost in double overtime in a game that will undoubtedly become a Grey Cup classic.

In June 2006, Matthews signed a new two-year deal with the organization, through the 2008 season. In October 2006, after leading his team to an East Division first-place record of 8-6, he announced his retirement.

Off the field, Don has always been active with charity work. During his time in Saskatchewan and Baltimore, he helped raise funds for school hot lunch programs. Don has three sons. He lives on Nun’s Island with his one-year-old Rottweiler called B.J. in Montreal. His mother Ida was a francophone originally from Tracadie, New Brunswick and his father Fred was a Canadian from Prince Edward Island.

[edit] Statistics

<stats> Coach= Matthews, Don Sport= CFL </stats>

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