Donald J. Matthews, a.k.a. "The Don", (June 22, 1939 – June 14, 2017) was a

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

of several professional football teams, mostly in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

(CFL). He won 231 games in the CFL, the second highest win total by a head coach in the league's history while leading four teams to Grey Cup victories. He was inducted into the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about ...

in September 2011.

Early life and college

Matthews was born in

Amesbury, Massachusetts Amesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the left bank of the Merrimack River near its mouth, upstream from Salisbury and across the river from Newburyport and West Newbury. The population was 17,366 at the 202 ...

, the son of Canadian-born parents, Ida (Babin), from Tracadie,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, and Fred Matthews, a steel mill worker from

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

. From a large family of limited means and education, he quit high school in Amesbury after his senior season of football in 1956 and served three years in the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

.
Portland Tribune
'' - A new game plan for famed coach - 2010-02-11 Matthews returned home and earned his high school diploma and then on the advice of a teacher, ventured west in 1960 as a 21-year-old freshman to

Moscow, Idaho Moscow ( ) is a city in North Central Idaho, United States. Located along the state border with Washington, it had a population of 25,435 at the 2020 census. The county seat and largest city of Latah County, Moscow is the home of the Universit ...

. He walked-on at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

on the freshman team; he was awarded a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

by varsity head coach

Skip Stahley Jacob Neil "Skip" Stahley (September 22, 1908 – June 27, 1992)''The University of Idaho Magazine'', Oct 1992, Vol.10, No.4, p.20. was an American college football coach and athletic director. He served as the head football coach at the Universi ...

after his first semester. He earned three letters and was a team captain in his senior season of

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

, when the Vandals, in their second year under Dee Andros, achieved their first winning season in a quarter century. Matthews graduated from the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

with a degree in education in 1964.Go Vandals.com
- lifetime achievement - Don Matthews - accessed 2011-10-22

Early career

Matthews was a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

for the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

for the 1964 season under Andros and freshman coach

Bud Riley Edward Jones "Bud" Riley Jr. (November 25, 1925 – August 4, 2012) was an American college football coach who served as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho and Oregon State University. Riley also spent 14 seasons in the Canadian Foo ...

. Matthews then coached

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

at Ely for four years and won a state title. He relocated to

eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

in 1969 as head coach at Ferris, where he led the Saxons to the city title in his second and final year. Matthews became a collegiate assistant coach back at his alma mater in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

as offensive line coach (later as offensive coordinator), under second-year head coach

Don Robbins Donald Roy Robbinsacademics.utep.edu< ...

. After an start, the Vandals finished at which included an eight-game winning streak, and won the Big Sky title. At the time it was the best record in school history, and three seniors were selected in the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

. Two years later, Robbins was fired following the

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

season and Matthews moved to the Portland area. He took over a winless program at Sunset High School in Beaverton and won consecutive state championships in 1975 and 1976, going undefeated in his third and final year. He left Sunset after the 1976 season to become a

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

assistant coach in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

Pro coaching career

Matthews was formerly head coach of the CFL's

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

Baltimore Stallions The Baltimore Stallions (known officially as the "Baltimore Football Club" and previously as the "Baltimore CFL Colts" in its inaugural season) were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, which played ...

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the CFL East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based i ...

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

, and

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes ( French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Cana ...

. He was also head coach of the

Orlando Thunder The Orlando Thunder was a member of the World League of American Football from 1991 to 1992 (known as NFL Europe from 1995 onwards). The team played their games in the 70,000 seat Florida Citrus Bowl, and was coached by Don Matthews in 1991 and ...

of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally ...

in 1991. After coaching the Eskimos for two seasons, Matthews resigned as head coach just prior to the team's first preseason game on June 18, 2001. In October 2006, Matthews stepped down as head coach of the Alouettes expressing undisclosed health issues that were "affecting his ability to perform". In May 2008, Matthews was announced as an advisor to the

Jeff Hunt Jeff Hunt is a Canadian businessman who is an owner of the Ottawa Redblacks football club of the Canadian Football League and the Ottawa 67's hockey club of the Ontario Hockey League. He started a carpet-cleaning firm called Canway. His firm w ...

-led group's conditional Ottawa franchise. Don Matthews returned to Toronto on September 9, 2008, as the interim coach for the Argonauts, after they started the season with a 4–6 record. In that press conference, Matthews revealed that the major health reason that caused him to step down as head coach of the Alouettes was an

anxiety disorder Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear such that a person's social, occupational, and personal function are significantly impaired. Anxiety may cause phy ...

. He also went further to say that he had been prescribed to some medication and the anxiety attacks are now under control. On October 31, 2008, he resigned from the Argonauts a day after the conclusion of the Argonauts 2008 regular season, which saw the Argos fail to win a game in the eight games under his leadership and finishing out of the playoffs for the first time since the 2001 CFL season. Matthews was selected for induction in the Builder category into the

on February 10, 2011. On November 5, 2012, Matthews announced he was battling cancer and therefore would not be able to participate in any of the festivities for the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto. The Montreal Alouettes announced on July 30, 2014, that Matthews had joined the team in a coaching consultant role for the second consecutive year.

Coaching records

Don Matthews holds several head coaching records: *Most

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

appearances (9 – tied) *Most Grey Cup wins (5 – tied) He also has an additional five Grey Cup titles as defensive co-ordinator of the

CFL head coaching record

:''Source''
justsportsstats.com

Personal

Matthews' mother, Ida, was a

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

from Tracadie, New Brunswick, while his father, Fred, was from

. Had current Canadian nationality laws been in effect in 1939, Matthews would have become a Canadian citizen under the principle of jus sanguines, but separate Canadian citizenship was not enacted until 1947 and was not extended retroactively to anyone born outside the country prior to 1947. In 2004, Matthews became a naturalized Canadian citizen. Matthews has three sons and six grandchildren. He lived in

Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in Washington County, in the U.S. state of Oregon with a small portion bordering Portland in the Tualatin Valley. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was 97,494 at ...

, with his wife Stephanie and stepson Blaze. After a long 5-year battle with cancer, Matthews died on June 14, 2017.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts profile

Canadian Football Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Don 1939 births 2017 deaths American football linebackers Baltimore Stallions coaches BC Lions coaches Edmonton Elks coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Idaho Vandals football players Montreal Alouettes coaches Orlando Thunder coaches Saskatchewan Roughriders coaches Toronto Argonauts coaches Toronto Argonauts general managers High school football coaches in Oregon High school football coaches in Nevada High school football coaches in Washington (state) Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Amesbury, Massachusetts Players of American football from Massachusetts Sportspeople from Essex County, Massachusetts American emigrants to Canada American people of Canadian descent Naturalized citizens of Canada Deaths from cancer in Oregon