Phillip Louis Mathews (born November 27, 1950) is an American basketball coach who is currently head men's basketball coach at

Riverside City College Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System. History RCC first opened in 1916 at ...

. A native of

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

, Mathews played college basketball at Riverside City and

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** '' University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the ti ...

. Since 1972, Mathews has coached at the high school, junior college, and college levels. He began his career as an assistant at UC Irvine, Santa Ana Valley High School, and

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

. From 1985 to 1995, Mathews was a junior college head coach at Ventura and led Ventura to ten conference titles and two state titles. Mathews then was head coach for the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

from 1995 to 2004, before returning to the junior college ranks as

San Bernardino Valley The San Bernardino Valley ( es, Valle de San Bernardino) is a valley in Southern California located at the south base of the Transverse Ranges. It is bordered on the north by the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains; ...

head coach from 2004 to 2006. Mathews then became an assistant coach at two NCAA programs,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

from 2006 to 2010 and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

from 2010 to 2013. Mathews became head coach at Riverside City in 2013. In the 1998 episode of ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on th ...

'' entitled, "Basketball", Mathews made an appearance with his son, Jordan, as they played basketball on the Sobrato Center court.

Early life and college playing career

Phillip Louis Mathews was born in

and graduated from

John W. North High School John W. North High School is a public high school in Riverside, California, part of the Riverside Unified School District, and the home of the Huskies. It is an International Baccalaureate school. History John Wesley North High School was establ ...

in Riverside in 1968. Mathews then attended

for two years and transferred to the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

and lettered two years as a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

on the

UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball The UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents the University of California, Irvine. The team currently competes in the Big West Conference, NCAA Division I. UC Irvine basketball is in its ninth year under ...

team. Mathews graduated from UC Irvine in 1972 with a B.A. in comparative cultures.

Coaching career

Mathews began his coaching career in the 1972–73 season as an assistant at UC Irvine under Tim Tift. He then spent one season as junior varsity coach at Santa Ana Valley High School before returning to UC Irvine for four more seasons as an assistant again under Tift. UC Irvine, then in Division II, made the 1974 NCAA tournament. In 1978, Mathews returned to Santa Ana Valley High to become varsity basketball coach. In three seasons with Mathews as coach, Santa Ana Valley won two Century League titles. In 1981, Mathews returned to the collegiate ranks in his first NCAA Division I job, as an assistant coach at

under George McQuarn. During Mathews's four seasons on staff, Cal State Fullerton made the

1983 National Invitation Tournament The 1983 National Invitation Tournament was the 1983 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. Selected teams Thirty-two teams accepted invitations to the tournament.

. From 1985 to 1995, Mathews was head coach on the junior college level, at

Ventura College Ventura College is a public community college in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a campus with an enrollment of 13,763 students. It is part of the Ventura County Community College District. History Ventura College ...

. Mathews had a 298–56 record at Ventura, with

CCCAA The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...

titles in 1987 and 1995. Mathews also served as athletics coordinator at Ventura in the 1994–95 season. Mathews then was head coach at the

from 1995 to 2004. San Francisco had winning records in 6 of Mathews's nine seasons (including every season from 1995–96 to 1999–00) and made the 1998 NCAA tournament by virtue of winning the WCC tournament. After the 2003–04 season, USF fired Mathews, who finished his tenure with a 139–123 record. After USF, Mathews returned to the junior college ranks as head coach at

San Bernardino Valley College San Bernardino Valley College is a public community college in San Bernardino, California. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The college has an enrollment of 17,044 students and covers . Valley College is also a ...

. Mathews led San Bernardino Valley to a 27–5 record in 2004–05 with the

Foothill Conference The Foothill Conference was a college athletic conference that is affiliated with the California Community College Athletic Association. Several community colleges were members until it was formally disbanded in Spring, 2016. History The Foothill C ...

title, then 24–12 in 2005–06. In 2006, Mathews returned to Division I as an assistant coach at

under

Doc Sadler Kenneth Lee "Doc" Sadler (born June 12, 1960) is an American college basketball coach. He was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss), a position he held from 2014 through the 2018-19 season. Sadle ...

. Mathews remained on staff for four seasons, during which Nebraska made the NIT in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. In 2010, Mathews joined

Ben Howland Benjamin Clark Howland (born May 28, 1957) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as the men's head coach at Mississippi State University from to 2015 to 2022. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern Ar ...

's staff at

as an assistant coach. Mathews coached for three seasons, during which UCLA made the NCAA Tournament in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and won the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

regular season title in 2013. Mathews became head coach at

in 2013. Riverside went 12–17 in 2013–14, then 10–17 in 2014–15.

Personal life

Mathews's two sons

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and

Jonah Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin: ''Ionas'' son of Amittai, is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, from Gath-hepher of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th cent ...

are professional basketball players.

Head coaching record

Junior college

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Philip 1950 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from California Cal State Fullerton Titans men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball coaches Riverside City Tigers men's basketball coaches Riverside City Tigers men's basketball players San Francisco Dons men's basketball coaches UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball coaches UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball players UCLA Bruins men's basketball coaches Ventura Pirates men's basketball coaches Guards (basketball)