Don Matthews Passes Away

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CardiacKid
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5-Time Grey Cup champ, CFL Coach of the Year 5-times....one of the absolute All-Time greats.
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B.C.FAN
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Sorry to hear that. He was an innovator and risk-taker. Basketball on grass. All-out blitzes. Condolences to his family.

Legendary CFL coach Don Matthews dead at age 77
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WestCoastJoe
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That is a great sadness.

One of my all time favourites.

Great courage. Great loyalty.

Does it take courage to play attack style football? Absolutely. Most coaches are too scared to go for it. Does it take character to be loyal? Absolutely. Matthews cared about his players, even to the point of damaging his relations with the press.

I had the privilege to meet him on the occasion of a guest lecture he gave. In his own quiet way, he was riveting. He spoke softly about his high school coaching career. I am reluctant to get into facts from memory because his results were rather astonishing. But I recall rebuilt programs, from rock bottom. Undefeated seasons. Championships. Different schools. Amazing. He didn't really reveal any "secrets." I expect he would say that at the high school level good talent was already there within the walls, not dependent on recruiting. He gave them a system, but more importantly, as he would be reluctant to say, he inspired. He gave confidence, attitude, fun and excitement about the possibilities. And, lo and behold, those possibilities kept on happening.

When he left Edmonton to join the Lions, I recall Eskimo defensive players talking about how he inspired them.

Loved his go for it attitude. Attack on defence. Attack on offence.

Loved his life story, rising from the high school coaching ranks to championship level pro football.

I know there will be an outpouring of sadness and grief on his passing, from all those who entered his orbit. Coaches. Players. Friends. Fans. And of course Family.

God Bless.
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John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

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WestCoastJoe
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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/ ... e35308446/
Legendary CFL coach Don Matthews dead at age 77
DAN RALPH
TORONTO — The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2017 2:29PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2017 2:42PM EDT

They called him “The Don,” and with good reason.

A larger-than-life character with a sharp wit who thrived in the spotlight, Don Matthews took wicked pleasure in keeping people around him on edge with his abrasive, no-nonsense style.

The Hall of Famer, who died Wednesday at the age of 77, was one of the most prolific coaches in CFL history with 231 wins and 10 Grey Cups on his resume.

But he was also a controversial figure who had a high-risk, high-reward philosophy.

Players traditionally loved suiting up for him because of his reputation for creating a winning atmosphere and protecting his athletes. During the regular season, Matthews’ teams rarely hit during practice and he routinely allowed his players to participate in creating the weekly game plan.

Yet he maintained his distance. While known for being a “player’s coach,” he could also be ruthless when it came to making tough personnel decisions and he wasn’t afraid to bench a veteran or cut him outright if he wasn’t producing.

“It’s that balance and to do that you must be brilliant,” said running back/slotback Mike (Pinball) Clemons, who won two Grey Cups over three seasons playing for Matthews in Toronto. “Some people try to be a player’s coach but they let it go too far and the players run the roost.

“He was a player’s coach but he was also the boss and everybody knew that.”

Matthews was also brutally honest, a trait reporters covering his teams knew well as he would call them out publicly for asking what he deemed to be an inappropriate question.

But even the press corps respected him, voting Matthews the CFL’s coach of the year five times.

The Toronto Argonauts said he died Wednesday morning in Beaverton, Ore. He had announced in 2012 he was battling cancer.

In a statement, the CFL called Matthews “one of a kind.”

“Upon hearing of the passing of Don Matthews, the Canadian Football League family is both deeply saddened by this loss and grateful for his many contributions to our league,” the statement said.

Charismatic and brash with a sandpaper personality, Matthews was also a CFL winner from the beginning.

The native of Amesbury, Mass., who eventually became a Canadian citizen, began his CFL coaching career as an assistant with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1977 before being promoted to defensive co-ordinator the following season. He helped the club win five straight Grey Cup titles from 1978 to ‘82 before being named the B.C. Lions head coach in 1983.

Matthews spent 22 seasons as a CFL head coach with B.C., Baltimore, Saskatchewan, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal, reaching the Grey Cup nine times and winning a record five championships as a head coach. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

“He was, quite frankly, the best leader I’ve ever been around,” Clemons said. “He taught me so much and the majority of those lessons you didn’t realize were lessons until after the experience when you realized you walked away with more than you gave, more than you were promised and much more than you were entitled to.

“He was magical in his approach, he was infectious. But uniquely, he had a way of bringing out the best in people, he put you in the best position to be successful.”

And that included Clemons, who said Matthews allowed him to be a full-time running back for the first time in his career in 1996. That season, Clemons had more receiving yards (1,268) than rushing (286), which was a break from the football norm.

“He changed his philosophy, he changed the game to accommodate my skill set in a time where that really didn’t happen,” Clemons said.

Matthews’ influence on Clemons continued when he served as Argos head coach from 2000 to 2007.

“I think I was true enough to who I was, I didn’t try to be him because you couldn’t,” Clemons said. “There was only one Don Matthews.

“While I didn’t try to be him, much of who he is became who I was because of his influence.”

More often, the public’s view of Matthews was as a free-spirited straight shooter who was never lacking in self confidence. He was passionate about riding big motorcycles and launched a CD and video of the rallying chant “What Time is It?” based on a speech he gave during the Montreal Alouettes’ 2002 Grey Cup victory parade.

But there were physical signs late in his career that time had caught up with Matthews. His face had become rounder and often appeared more flush. He was known to use a golf cart to get around during Alouettes practice, rather than walk.

Prior to the 2004 East Division final versus Toronto, Matthews downplayed his reputation, saying “I have a passion for milk and cookies. I have a way more boring life than some of you might think.”

But Matthews was anything but boring.

He was a master at moulding players to suit his systems. Routinely his defences were ranked at or near the top of most CFL categories, yet his players were well down in the individual statistical races.

Matthews was never afraid to put it on the line in a big game and in 2003, he rode an attacking, blitzing Alouettes defence into the 2003 Grey Cup despite having rookies D.J. Johnson and Brandon Williams at cornerback.

He stubbornly refused to change his philosophy in the CFL title game that year, choosing to blitz freely throughout and put Johnson and Williams in man coverage against more experienced receivers. The move backfired as Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray continually victimized Johnson and Williams in leading the Eskimos to a 34-22 victory.

Though he rarely showed it publicly, Matthews also had a softer side.

When he was Argos head coach, he attended a book launch for Clemons. Matthews was holding Clemons’ baby daughter Raven during the news conference when she began to squirm. To calm the little girl, Matthews removed one of her shoes and gently rubbed the bottom of her foot, settling her down immediately.

“That’s really what I think was unique about him, he was a man of all seasons,” Clemons said. “Most of the time people don’t do it and you discourage leaders to do that mostly because they can’t.

“The key thing here was he could and he did. He had this wonderful personal touch and he changed lives.”
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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DanoT
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Sad news. IMO Mathews was just the best CFL coach ever.
TheLionKing
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Condolences to his family and friends. Love his attacking aggressive philosophy on offence and defence. Play to win instead of playing not to lose.
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David
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We can talk about Wally Buono being "The Lion King" and seeing very big crowds here in the mid-2000s, and Dave Skrein in '63 and '64 when the Lions were the toast of the town in a football mad market, but the guy who coached the Leos at the real apex of their popularity was Don Matthews. He was a big reason why.

Condolences to his family.
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Hambone
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My personal memory of Matthews was during the Lions golf tournament (1985 I think) up in Whistler. It started out as an absolutely miserable day with pouring rain. Myself I gave up after only about 4 holes. By the time the rain stopped and the sun started to poke it's head out I was soaked to the ass and the wind started to pick up a bit. So I adjourned to the bar to dry out on the outside and get wet on the inside. Aside from the rain the two biggest memories I have from that day other than the weather were; sitting at the bar talking to Ron Cherkas who like myself gave up on the golf (Ron was just a genuinely nice guy to shoot the breeze with) and getting partnered up with Matthews on the pool table for 4 or 5 games. In that environment Don came across as quite personable but was definitely a far better coach than pool player.
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Gridiron Ernie
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There's gonna' always be something real special about a coach who delivered your first 'adult' Grey Cup (i.e. not counting the club's very first back when I was still just a kid of 10). Aside from delivering the goods (1985) for us long-suffering Leo fans, he was a character indeed!

And the one particular aspect of that character which stood out for me and meant the most was his love for his players. He may have come across as generally remote and distant towards fans and often prickly towards media, but I personally didn't care -- he had his players' backs and that was more than enough for me. Little else mattered.

That man's "orbit" that WCJ mentions -- it pulled you in and even little ol' me felt a part of it. Wonderful! Thank you for the memories, Don Matthews. My vote goes to you still -- for the best ever in this league. My heartfelt condolences to family and friends.
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Rammer
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Mathew's was an innovator who stuck up for his players and allowed them to have fun in practice so they laid it all on the line game day. Exciting offense plays, great ST plays, and D that dictates to the opposition.

He brought swagger to the Lions team that captured this resistant sports town. Lions owned the town, well ahead of the Canucks, it was a special time that closed to quickly with his firing.

He was successful in Toronto and Baltimore, becoming an ambassador for the CFL eventually. The CFL lost a true character that embraced the CFL game and country. RIP.
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Gridiron Ernie
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Darrell Davis writes another wonderful well-rounded tribute here... http://3downnation.com/2017/06/14/don-r ... -matthews/
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BC 1988
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Gridiron Ernie wrote:
Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:06 am
Darrell Davis writes another wonderful well-rounded tribute here... http://3downnation.com/2017/06/14/don-r ... -matthews/
That's a great article. I particularly liked the bit about Narcisse and how Matthews motivated him.
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almo89
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I remember going to a game when the Als were in town. It was something like with a minute left. Als just scored a TD and they needed a convert to tie, but he went for the 2 point, but failed. They ended up losing, but Matthews never lacked balls that's for sure.
Blitz
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I thought the world of him. Very sad day. The article below comments on how Matthews touched many people with his life. So very true. I feel very fortunate. He was special.
Don Matthews, the ‘greatest coach ever,’ was a walking, talking, winning contradiction

Steve Simmons, Postmedia Network | June 15, 2017 9:17 AM ET

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The man known as The Don was probably the most intriguing, most despised, most successful, most annoying and most fascinating coach the league has ever known.

TORONTO — Don Matthews was called every name in the book, and then some, in his lifetime in the Canadian Football League.

He was his own football thesaurus: Brilliant. Egotistical. Intimidating, Driven. Singular. Successful. Nomadic. Chauvinistic. Mistrusting. Caustic. Abrasive. Acerbic. Extraordinary.

All of them, like the man himself: a walking, talking, winning contradiction.
The greatest coach in CFL history — who was maybe the largest personality, maybe the most controversial figure — passed away Wednesday at the age of 77.

The man known as The Don was probably the most intriguing, most despised, most successful, most annoying and most fascinating coach the league has ever known.

“He’s the greatest coach ever,’’ said Jim Popp, general manager of the Toronto Argonauts, who worked with Matthews in Baltimore and Montreal and was first hired by him in Saskatchewan in 1992. “He was the best and he brought the best out of everybody.

He didn’t just coach his players. Most great coaches coach their coaches, too. Don did all of that. He controlled the environment. I learned so much from him.”

Matthews controlled just about everything around his football teams.
“This,” he told me years ago about coaching football, “isn’t a democracy. This is a dictatorship and I’m the head dick.”

Don Matthews was part of 10 Grey Cup-winning teams.

Mostly loved by his players, often loathed by media who covered his teams and difficult to work with at times with others in the front office, Matthews was part of 10 Grey Cup-winning teams, five as an assistant, five as a head coach, and he was a five-time coach of the year in the league.

Years ago I wrote of him: “He has 10 rings, six Grey Cup, four wedding.” That was the life he led, he was a wanderer; impatience played a role in all his success. He made eight different coaching stops in the CFL, three times coaching the Argos, also having terrific runs in Montreal, Baltimore, Saskatchewan, Edmonton and British Columbia.

“He touched so many people,” said Popp. “When you were with him, or worked with him, you saw another side of Don. He cared about people. He helped people. He did things for people he didn’t want anyone to know about.

“Deep down, he was never that person (the media portrayed him to be). He did what he needed to do to win. If he took something too far, he knew what he was doing. Sometimes, he’d say ‘I’m going to do this today,’ but everything was calculated. Everything was for the team. When he walked into a room, he had a real swagger to him, a confidence. He was the leader and everyone knew it.”

One regret Matthews had was he never got a chance to coach in the National Football League. He came close to being hired by New Orleans in 1997, but the legendary Mike Ditka was chosen ahead of him. Before that, he thought he was being hired by another legend, Tom Landry, in Dallas in 1989.

Landry brought Matthews to Dallas, picked him up at the airport, asked him to diagram his CFL pressure defence and to explain how it would work with one fewer player on the field. Landry was so sold by the presentation he offered Matthews a coaching job right on the spot. The two shook hands on the deal.

Four days later, Matthews turned on his television set to see the stunning news: The Cowboys had fired Landry as coach. “I never heard from him again,” Matthews told me in 2006.

Not coaching in the NFL meant Matthews had time to travel the world in the seasons away from football. He made stops in Fiji, Greece, Africa, Israel, Egypt and Peru. With Matthews, he couldn’t help his ‘my way or the highway’ style. That’s how he operated.

He also loved the highway for another reason: It was a place he could ride his beloved motorcycle. Matthews was an educated man of culture who often acted the opposite of that.

In his first days coaching the Roughriders, he received a call at 1 a.m. from a clerk at the Regina Inn hotel. Matthews answered the phone with: “Someone better be dead.”

It turned out, one of his players had been caught climbing the balconies of the hotel, trying to get from his room to his girlfriend’s room. The player’s name was John Bankhead.

The next morning, Matthews asked his personnel man if they had a John Bankhead on their team. The answer came back yes.“Not anymore,” said Matthews.

One time, when preparing his team to play the Edmonton Eskimos, where Matthews cut his teeth as an assistant coach in the dynasty years, the coach told his players: “This is an ass-kicking contest — and the Eskimos are supplying the ass.”

That was his career. A lot of ass-kickings.

He coached the Doug Flutie Grey Cup seasons in Toronto, ending up 34-6 over those two record-breaking years that will never be duplicated. He coached the all-American Baltimore Stallions, probably the most talented team in history, to a Grey Cup title.

He won 231 games as a head coach, which was the most in history when he walked away under difficult health circumstances in 2008.

“I talked to him all the time,” said Popp Wednesday.

The last time was less than a week ago.

“He couldn’t communicate, but he could hear. He could raise his arm. We needed some kind of closure. I’m sure going to miss that man
.”
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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Robbie
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Some memories of him based on his CFHOF induction.


祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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