By Sean Millington,
CFL.ca
This could very well be the end of an era. With the announcement of Don Matthew’s resignation, the career of the coach with the most wins in CFL football could be over.
Now, I am withholding a certain amount of conviction with regards to his ultimate retirement, due to the similarity between this situation and the one when he left Edmonton in 2001. As we all know, he later surfaced with the Alouettes. So for this piece I am allowing myself the caveat that despite this looking like the end for Matthews, it may very well prove not to be.
Coach Matthews is and was an enigmatic character. I don’t claim to understand him or what makes him tick, but over the years of my association with him I have made some observations.
First and foremost, he is a football man through and through. He possesses an understanding of the game combined with an ability to communicate that to his players that few other coaches come close to.
Having had the opportunity to both play for him and work with him as a member of the media I can say this — there is very little middle ground with regards to opinions about Matthews. People either love or hate him. He has a deserved reputation as a players coach, rarely making his teams practice in pads.
His reputation among the media is somewhat less glowing. He has little patience for members of the media who he regards as non-football types (a category many of them fall into) and as a result his interactions with them were often characterized by friction. In this regard however, I cut him some slack; having sat through my share of press conferences and listened to enough dumb questions being asked, I can understand a certain amount of impatience.
I may give him a break on his poor relationship with the media, but on the flip side I have to take his player-coach reputation down a notch. When I was released from the Blue Bombers in 1999 the Eskimos picked me up and Matthews was head coach at the time. My impression of his opinion of me was that he didn’t think too much of me as a running back. I could block, maybe do the odd run, and that was about it as far as he was concerned.
It is also my opinion that my passport factored into his evaluation as well. When injury created an opportunity for me to get into the line-up I was fortunate enough to have a great game, setting a single game rushing record for the team. This was not enough to change Coach Matthew’s mind however, and the next week I was back on the bench. I could see not automatically becoming the starter, but in my mind I had earned a chance to enter the rotation.
My feeling looking back on that situation is that because of my having a great game wasn’t part of his plan — something that he foresaw and could take credit for — he didn’t want to acknowledge it. It just didn’t fit with his ego.
Coach Matthew’s ego is legendary and often his pride is justified by his accomplishment, but on several notable occasions it has gotten him into trouble. The 2003 Grey Cup, where he played two rookie cornerbacks against all logic and refused to change when it became clear they weren’t up to the task, is one that comes to mind.
Unsuccessful decisions notwithstanding, on the balance of things if it does prove to be the swansong for Coach Matthews, I think he will leave behind a career typified by more good than bad. Two hundred and thirty one career wins and 10 Grey Cup victories is a pretty good way to go out in my opinion.
Sean Millington played 13 years in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts and has been a panelist on the CFL on CBC since 2003.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
