OC Matthews will not return to Jags staff next season
Offensive lineman Drew Dearman, Dearman’s father and Offensive Coordinator Robert Matthews after the annual Red & Blue Spring football game in 2012.
The post-season coaching carousel got started all around the country this week as many teams have finished their regular-season games prior to championship game weekend. And it has also struck at South Alabama.
According to several outlets including footballscoop.com, a source, and confirmed last night by AL.com, offensive coordinator Robert Matthews will not be returning next season.
Matthews just finished his third season as the offensive coordinator for the Jaguars. He coached the offensive linemen his first two seasons but took over coaching the quarterbacks this season.
His first season in 2012 the offense set school records in completions (244), passing yards (2,728), passing yards per game (209.8) and first downs (252). Ross Metheny set a new school record with 189 completions and became the first quarterback to pass for more than 2,000 yards in a season. Three receivers would finish in the top five of the program’s season record list for both catches and receiving yards.
In 2013 the Jags averaged over 425 yards per game and almost 30 points per game, including a school record 252.8 yards per game passing. Wes Saxton and Shavarez Smith set schools records with 50 receptions last season with Smith also setting a record with 940 yards receiving.
Last season, under his guidance, the offensive line allowed a conference low 1.42 sacks per game and broke the single season record for passing yards with 3,033 yards passing among other records.
This season the Jaguars offense was thought to be the strength of the team, but was disappointing after preseason hype except for a few games in the middle of their schedule against teams that were struggling. The Jaguars averaged only 22.1 points per game (9th out of 11 in SBC), 372.8 yards of total offense per game (9th), 190.2 yards passing per game (9th), and 182.6 yards rushing per game (6th). Quarterbacks this season combined to complete only 52.8% of their passes with 15 interceptions and 16 touchdowns. They only gained 2,282 yards through, the third lowest total in the Sun Belt, and a 110.0 pass efficiency rating, the lowest in the conference.
I would be remiss if I did not comment about Matthews, the man. He worked very hard for this program and remains a very nice person with a great wife and a small child. I’m sure this was a very difficult decision by coach Jones, but he felt this was necessary for the good of the program.
The leading candidate to fill the position is widely thought to be Bryant Vincent from UAB. He served as quarterback coach at USA for three seasons prior to joining Blazer head coach and former USA defensive coordinator Bill Clark as offensive coordinator this season at UAB. Prior to USA, Vincent was head coach at Spanish Fort High School.
Under Vincent’s guidance, the Blazers averaged 33.2 points per game, 212.1 yards rushing per game, 219.8 yards passing per game and 431.8 yards of total offense per game. However this week UAB president Ray Watts announced the disbanding of football from their sports program. It is uncertain what the fate of the rest of the offensive coaches will be, I would assume it could be a mixture of keeping some of the current and potentially bring some from UAB *IF* Vincent is hired.
Nevertheless, we wish coach Matthews the best.