GWAINE MATHEWS
Head Football Coach

Gwaine Mathews has always been a winner and he has no intentions of letting his first two years at the University of Arkansas at Monticello define his coaching legacy.

Mathews won as a player at DeLaSalle High School in New Orleans. He won as an All-Gulf South Conference defensive back at Delta State. He won big as an assistant coach at Delta State, serving as defensive coordinator and helping the Statemen capture the 2000 NCAA Division II national championship.

Intense, tough, hard-nosed and competitive . . . they all define Mathews. That’s why his first two seasons at UAM have been difficult to swallow. Since becoming UAM’s 24th head coach in April 2005, Mathews has had to rebuild a program short on talent, discipline, and the intangible qualities that separate winners from the rest of the pack.

“It’s been tough, I’ll be honest with you,” says Mathews, in his distinctive New Orleans brogue. “I know the results on the field haven’t shown it, but we’re getting there. We were close in a lot of games last year and we’re real close to turning the corner. I’ve always been around winning teams, and we can win here. This program has a winning tradition. We just need to get back on track, and we will.”

Mathews is convinced he can make UAM a contender in the rugged Gulf South Conference and his track record would indicate he knows how. Mathews was the defensive coordinator at Delta State, his alma mater, from 1998 through 2000 and helped lead the Statesmen to the 2000 NCAA Division II national championship. He spent the next two seasons as defensive coordinator at North Alabama, helping return a once-proud program to national prominence.

After two seasons as defensive coordinator at Division I-AA Tennessee-Chattanooga, Mathews answered the call at UAM and started rebuilding from the ground up. “I don’t believe in taking shortcuts, I believe in doing things the right way all the time,” he says. “That doesn’t mean I don’t expect to win right away. I want to win every time we set foot on that field but I’m also realistic enough to know it will take some time to assemble the talent we need to compete in this league.”

The 40-year-old Mathews is no stranger to the GSC as either a coach or player. He was an All-GSC defensive back at Delta State in 1987 and an Academic All-GSC pick in 1988 while earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He continued his football career north of the border, playing parts of two seasons for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League before becoming a coach.

Mathews served as a graduate assistant coach at Delta State for the 1991 season while earning a master’s degree in social science education and health, physical education and recreation.

He returned to his hometown and his high school alma mater in 1992 for his first head coaching job at New Orleans DeLaSalle High School.     

Mathews built a winner at DeLaSalle, guiding the program to the state playoffs in 1997, the school’s first playoff appearance in 30 years.

After spending the next seven years as a college assistant, Mathews was anxious to put his stamp on a program he could call his own. So anxious, in fact, that when Chancellor Jack Lassiter called to offer Mathews the head coaching position at UAM, Mathews immediately grabbed his cell phone and called three recruits . . . before calling his wife to let her know he had accepted the job.

Mathews’ first two seasons as a college head coach have proven to be a rough ride, but he remains optimistic that good things are right around the corner. “The only way I know how to do things is to work hard and not accept anything short of the best in everything we do,” says Mathews. “We want to make doing things the right way a habit – in the classroom, in the weight room, in off-season conditioning, on the practice field, and in games. That’s how you win.”