Matthews building legacy at new school

L.D. Matthews, a former Mustang football standout has already started building a legacy and making an impact as the head football coach at Rancho Mirage High School, a new school established in 2013. Coach Matthews led the Rancho Mirage Rattlers to the 2016 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 12 Football Finals, where the team fell 35-34 in an overtime thriller to Arroyo Knights on Saturday, December 3.

Matthews is the son of Larry David and Susan (LaFond) Matthews of Malta. Matthews stood out not only in football, where he was a part of the 1996 State B Championship team and 1998 runner up, but also in basketball as part of the 1996 championship team and 1999 third place team. He also ran track and field, played baseball and was a part of the Malta Swim Team in his high school career. He graduated in 1999.

"I was involved in all of those sports and all of those teams and it was a great experience for me," he said.

Matthews attended Malta High School during the time Malta was experiencing and overcoming a fire that destroyed the school on December 24, 1995, his freshman year. Matthews was out of town with his family on Christmas vacation, when he heard the news.

"The night it burned down I was at my relatives' in Helena," he said.

That year was his freshman year and the team had only played one game at the Old Gym against Lewistown," Matthews said. "From that point on we were going to school at Saint Mary's and at the old nursing home."

The team's home games were played in Saco and at Dodson. Malta High School would reopen its new academic halls in the February of 1998 and its new gymnasium in 1999.

"Watching the construction of the new high school (Malta) and being one of the first teams to play in that gymnasium and so forth was a strange experience," Matthews said. "I kind of got that same experience when I moved from Desert Hot Springs High School."

After graduation from Malta High, he attended Rocky Mountain College, while continuing his football career. He started in Rocky Mountain College's Business program unsure of what he wanted to major in.

"My freshman year at Rocky, I took some business classes because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do," he said. "Then I remember having a 7:45 (a.m.) three days a week accounting class that I just dreaded and I was like, this is not what I want to do the rest of my life."

Remembering the impact that teachers had played in his life he switched his major to Elementary Education and then Physical Education.

"I'm in a position that all of my experiences at Malta High School even up into college have molded me into what I am now," Matthews said.

Matthews transferred to Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif., then Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., before graduating from Montana State University Northern in 2004 with a Bachelor's Degree in K-12 Physical Education and Health Enhancement. He had played football at all four colleges as a free safety, overcoming a broken arm and knee injuries. He was a graduate assistant at MSU-Northern before he began his teaching career.

"The biggest reason I got into coaching stems from my days playing and growing up in Malta and having the opportunity to play for some of the best coaches in Montana in Scott King, Tad Schye, Bernie Wasser, Andy Otteson, Pat Sargent, Tom Schumacher," Matthews said. "You could go down the list of great coaches that our little town has had and the impact that they've had on my life and how it's helped mold me into the man that I am today."

As a teacher and coach, Matthews has been replicating the principals he has learned from his former coaches in both high school and in college.

"That's what I am all about as a coach," he said. "Just trying to get the best out of kids and helping not only become the best athlete that they can be but to be the best person they can be in life, setting goals for themselves, working to achieve those goals... and how we can push them to get to the ultimate goal of being a productive citizen of this world."

Matthews began working at Edward L. Wenzlaff Elementary School in 2005, where he taught for four years, while also coaching at Desert Hot Springs High as an assistant coach. Then after budget cuts in 2008 he moved on to teach at Desert Springs Hot Springs High and continued his coaching career until 2013. He also earned his Master's Degree in Educational Administration in 2007 from California State University – San Bernardino.

The Palm Springs Unified School District decided to add Rancho Mirage as its fourth high school due to necessity. The doors opened in 2013.

"The population down here in Southern California is crazy, it's growing so fast," Matthews said. "I have watched a lot of high schools open up throughout the area. I thought that it would be an amazing experience to start something from nothing."

Seeing the growth and new schools, Matthews had dreamed that he would one day experience being a part of something new. Unsure that it would happen, he applied.

"I ended up getting an interview and then in April of 2013, I got the call asking if I would like to be the new football coach and PE teacher at Rancho Mirage High School," Matthews said.

He was overwhelmed after stepping into the newly built structure.

"Everything was empty," he said. "Every room was empty, there was not a bit of equipment."

Matthews had been given the responsibility to order every piece of equipment needed for multiple rooms including the weight room and football study room. He was also in charge of overseeing what the football team needed for equipment with a $100,000 budget.

"There was literally just a floor and the room," he said. "It was an overwhelming experience because as a coach when you go into a program that's already established they have something there. They have some type of tradition, some type of equipment, some type of something. But walking into a brand new school, there was nothing."

Matthews was overwhelmed, but thankful because he was able to build the program that he wanted to establish, without worrying about an already established budget.

"Being a head coach at a high school, there are always things that you want that can help develop your program," he said. "That opportunity was a once in a lifetime thing."

Unsure if he would do a full rebuild if needed, Matthews is thankful for being a part of the experience.

"It's something that I don't know if I would ever want to do again because it was a tremendous amount of work but at the same time it was so rewarding because when I'm done coaching, I will always be able to say with the other coaches (at Rancho Mirage) that we started that school," he said.

Matthews has plenty to be proud of in his young teaching career, but one thing he is the most thankful for goes beyond the classroom.

"The first day that I walked into a staff meeting on September 4, 2014, I laid my eyes on my future wife," Matthews said. "It's funny how God works and he brings people together but I'm forever grateful to my principal, Mr. Calderwood for hiring me because if I wouldn't have gotten my position, I wouldn't have met my wife. That's probably the ultimate gift or prize that I was able to achieve."

Matthews and his wife, Ana Matthews have been married since April 2, of 2016.

Another thing that Matthews is appreciative of is how supportive the community surrounding Rancho Mirage High is of their youth.

"Everybody supports everybody and it's a feeling like it was in Malta," Matthews said. "Anything that's going on for the most part, they will get behind it. As long as it is positive and benefitting someone in the community. It's really something that is special and really priceless. You can't put a value on something like that."