Tom Matukewicz reflects on first year as Southeast Missouri State's football coach

On December 18, 2013, Tom Matukewicz stood behind a podium after he was introduced as Southeast Missouri State's new football coach and professed that accepting the job fulfilled his childhood dream of being a head coach.

One year later, Matukewicz described it as "better than I could've dreamed."

"You've got a team that was willing to do whatever it took to try and be successful, and it was fun for them to have a little bit [of success] and to see that hard-work effort and all those things we talk about pay off," said Matukewicz of how it was better than expected. "Even from our staff -- if I had to do it all over I'd hire every single one of them again, and that's hard to do because you don't have a lot of time to think about things and resources and those type of things. The job our staff did was amazing."

Matukewicz and his staff led the Redhawks to a 5-7 overall record and a 3-5 record in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The team's five wins were an improvement from three wins in each of the previous three seasons.

The Redhawks defeated two teams ranked in the top 25 -- then-No. 3 Southeastern Louisiana and No. 20 Tennessee State -- for the first time in school history.

Their defeat of Southeastern Louisiana marked the highest ranked opponent Southeast had ever beaten.

While it was a year of progress for Southeast, it was also a year of learning for the first-time head coach.

"I couldn't even tell you all the mistakes I made. We don't have enough time," Matukewicz said. "But I felt like I grew, and I learned that a culture is never really done. You come in and you go to work on the culture, and I checked it off. The problem is that's not [ever finished].

"Culture is a daily thing that you have to constantly watch and evaluate. It kind of snuck up on us against Eastern Illinois, and I kind of had to go back and re-establish that thing, so that was probably one of my biggest learning lessons."

The Redhawks' 52-13 loss to Eastern Illinois was one of two lopsided losses. The other was a 50-23 loss to Southern Illinois.

Southeast lost to OVC champion Jacksonville State by 19 in the season finale, but had the game within 11 points twice in the third quarter, and the remainder of the Redhawks' losses were by 12 points or fewer.

It's not something Matukewicz likes to think about a lot because it's out of anyone's control, but several injuries hindered Southeast at times. What is in his control is putting his players in a position where they're less likely to have injuries occur.

"One of our major issues is lack of depth," Matukewicz said. "We had to play our players more plays than we'd like, which also led to some injuries, so we've got to do a good job recruiting to add more depth and then we've got to make serious gains in the weight room. We're not big enough, strong enough or fast enough. Our body-fat percentage has to come down. Just those little things, those little bricks will be the difference."

Southeast had 20 seniors that completed their college careers this season, and while several of them played key roles on the field, that's not Matukewicz's biggest concern.

Southeast Missouri State coach Tom Matukewicz speaks at the inaugural football awards luncheon Sunday, Dec. 13, 2014 at the Student Recreation Center. (Fred Lynch)

"For me it's about leadership. We graduate some phenomenal leaders," Matukewicz said. "Every year you're going to lose good players, but when you lose those leaders that is a concern, so we've got to develop our young leaders. We haven't voted on our leadership council. We won't do that until January. But I'm going to bring in some speakers from the community to try and really cultivate that within our program."

One of the biggest losses is quarterback Kyle Snyder, who set the school's single-season record for total offense with 3,243 yards.

Second-team all-conference cornerback Tim Hamm-Bey and the team's second and third-leading tacklers in safety Ron Davis and linebacker Wisler Ymonice are some that will have to be replaced on the defense.

Mainstays on the offensive line that won't return next season are Corey Porter and Kyle Finney, who both played in every game.

The Redhawks will return their top rusher and receivers, though.

Running back DeMichael Jackson, a second-team all-conference selection, will return for his senior campaign after averaging 91.8 yards per game and leading the team with 734 yards rushing even after missing four games with a broken hand.

First-team all-conference receiver Paul McRoberts led Southeast with nine touchdown catches and averaged 101.6 yards per game after missing five contests after fracturing his foot against Southeastern Louisiana.

McRoberts returns for his senior season along with receiver Peter Lloyd, who filled the void left by McRoberts this season. Lloyd, who broke his leg in the 10th game of the season, averaged 63.3 yards per game and had three receiving touchdowns.

Southeast also returns its leading tackler in sophomore linebacker Roper Garrett. Garrett finished with 96 tackles even though he missed the final three games of the season after breaking his leg against Eastern Kentucky.

First-team all-conference kicker Ryan McCrum, who broke the school's single-season field goal record with 18 made field goals and kicked four longer than 50 yards, will return as a junior.

This offseason should be a little smoother for Matukewicz and the team. Following his hiring a year ago Matukewicz had to hire his staff and sign his first recruiting class before having enough time to focus on the players he already had.

"The blueprint won't because I just believe in the way we went about our business," Matukewicz said of what will be different this offseason. "What'll change is we'll just try to enhance it. Right now I'm asking our players to get better, and I'm going to ask the coaches. 'Don't be the same coach come August. You go out and find new ways and better ways of doing things.' I've got to do the same thing. The program's got to grow. We've got to substantially improve our program somehow, some way, just like we ask our players. That's the focus."

Matukewicz already knows what it is that he can be better at in the future.

"I feel like Coach Tuke's got to go to work on his discipline, really mental discipline and not let my mind drift to things I can't control and focus on things I can control," Matukewicz said. "There were times somebody would walk in my door and tell me something that I had a hard time not focusing on even though it was some stuff I couldn't control. I just think I need to do a better job of that. And I've learned that I'm doing exactly what I believe I was put on this planet to do and that's to lead a college football team."

Check out a compilation of the quotable coach's most interesting and insightful comments from his first year on the job here.