"Brick by brick" are three simple words that have become the motto for new Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tom Matukewicz.
"What we're all wanting is excellence," Matukewicz said. "How we define that is doing common things, with uncommon discipline and uncommon enthusiasm."
Referred to as "Coach Tuke," Matukewicz has plans to rebuild the football program at Southeast from the bottom up, and turning a losing team into a winning team isn't something Matukewicz is a stranger to after 17 years of coaching experience.
A native from Silver Lake, Kan., Matukewicz graduated from Fort Hays State University with a degree in physical education and completed his master's in administration at Pittsburg State University.
He was the first person in his family to graduate from college.
Matukewicz has had a passion for football since the age of 12 and made coaching appearances at Fort Hays State University, Pittsburg State University, Coffeyville Community College and Emporia State University before he joined the staff at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale as a linebacker coach and a run-game coordinator.
He helped the Salukis become one of the top rushing defenses and was named the 2007 Football Championship Subdivision Assistant Coach of the Year. Matukewicz joined the Salukis in 2001 and the team went 1-10, but by 2007, the team improved and went 12-2.
"I'm really, really proud of what we did at Southern Illinois," Matukewicz said. "They wanted to drop the program and we ended up winning a bunch of championships and beat a BCS team."
Matukewicz accepted a job at Northern Illinois as the run-game coordinator under coach Jerry Kill after seven seasons at SIU. With Matukewicz on the staff, Northern Illinois had the No. 1 scoring defense, ranking first in total defense in the MAC in 2007. The team maintained the league's No. 1 total defense in 2008 and 2009.
Matukewicz also served as the interim head coach at Northern Illinois in 2010 after Kill left for Minnesota. Matukewicz led the team in the Humanitarian Bowl against Fresno State and Northern Illinois beat Fresno 40-15. He said the victory and position he held helped lead him to the position he holds at Southeast today.
"I've wanted to do this a long time," Matukewicz said. "I've tried to take jobs and do things to set this up and that's why I was real excited about this job."
Matukewicz spent the last two years at Toledo as the defensive coordinator and finished 7-5 last season.
Toledo was invited to the 2012 Famous Idaho Bowl and the defense ranked among the top 25 in the country.
Matukewicz replaced Tony Samuel on Dec. 18 after Samuel was fired on Nov. 30 and has since been on the road recruiting and gaining support.
Samuel spent eight seasons at Southeast and still had two years left on his contract.
Samuel led Southeast to its first ever Ohio Valley Conference title in 2010, but since then recorded no more than three wins each season and left with a 31-60 overall record at Southeast.
"After conducting a review of the 2013 season, I felt it was the appropriate time to make a change in the leadership of our football program," athletic director Mark Alnutt said in a press release.
Matukewicz said that he knows the returning players are going to have to adjust to the change of staff and way of doing things. He met them on his first day and explained to the players that he realizes they didn't choose him, but he left his job because he chose them.
He plans to incorporate his new teaching style in hopes to turn around Southeast just like he did with Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and Emporia State. He hopes to make not only a winning team, but a successful team as a whole.
"If you focus on winning, then you'll never build something great," Matukewicz said. "You've got to focus on the process and let the winning come."
His motto, "brick by brick", means a multitude of things. A brick can be an athlete receiving a B on a test instead of a C or recruiting a new player.
"He has mentored football student-athletes to be successful off the field and in the classroom," Alnutt said about Matukewicz in a release. "He truly believes in our mission of providing a first class collegiate experience for our student-athletes through academic excellence, social development and competitive success."
Matukewicz said there is a direct correlation between how an athlete performs off the field and on the field and plans to not only emphasize that in his teaching structure, but also make it a friendly competition between the players.
The staff will draft the team into eight smaller teams and they will compete for points. The players will nominate eight people to be the leaders of each team and the leaders will draft their teammates.
The players can gain points by participating in community service, winning in practice or gaining an 'A' in a class and players can lose points by doing things like missing a class.
The team with the most points at the end of the season gets "sweet gear" and gets to eat steak on fine China, while the losers get hot dogs and baked beans on paper plates.
There are currently 99 players listed on the 2014 football roster, but more players will be added by signing day on Feb. 5.
Matukewicz said he visited 20 local high schools in just three days and plans to visit 500 schools by the spring. As of now, 30 athletes are scheduled to visit Southeast.
His recruiting strategy involves two key points. He said that local athletes that can add value to the team and athletes from the St. Louis area are his main target.
"Our heart and soul has got to come from the area, from St. Louis to Memphis," he said.
His second point in recruiting relates back to what he learned when he met his future wife, Lenna, at Pittsburg State.
"My wife actually told me 'no' when I asked her to marry me, so I did what all good recruiters do, and I got the mom to say 'yes,'" Matukewicz said. "If you can get the mom [to say yes], you're in."
Other changes to the football team include the additions of Sherard Poteete as offensive coordinator, Bryce Saia as defensive coordinator, offensive line and assistant head coach Jon Weimers, Ricky Coon as the defensive line coach, Matt Martin as running backs coach, Travis Fisher as corner backs coach and special teams coordinator Eric Burrow as secondary coach.
Matukewicz signed a four-year contract with an annual salary of $130,000. He also can receive up to an additional $57,000 through incentives.
"I want a program people are proud of," Matukewicz said. "I want people to come watch us play and be proud of the product we put on. I know early on, it may not be in the wins and the losses, but still, you're going to see people who won't jump offsides, get stupid penalties. We are going to play extremely hard."
