After building a winning culture at UW-River Falls, Matt Walker makes jump to coach Drake
Matt Walker enjoyed every moment. For 15 years, he took the University of Wisconsin-River Falls football team from winless to national champions.
As it turned out, the fairytale ending closed the chapter on Walker's tenure with the Falcons. He left and took the head coach job at Drake University.
"The truth is, it was not easy to leave," Walker said. "My family calls River Falls home. And my kids grew up there. Was there a long time. We built from 0-10 to a national championship team. My friends are there. That was hard. I've been honest about that. The secret's out, I had a lot of offers there during the playoff run and even the last couple years before we won the championship. I always said it had to be a job — if I was gonna leave River Falls, which I wasn't sure I was gonna do — it had to be a place where I could be at forever. Nobody knows anymore what's gonna happen in this college football industry. If the Pittsburgh Steelers call me tomorrow, I'm gonna answer the phone."
Walker and offensive coordinator Joe Matheson brought their super successful "Top Gun offense" and the starting quarterback-in-waiting to Des Moines. But it has not gone smoothly thanks partly to plenty of injuries.
"Not very many of these guys have lost very many games," said Walker. "There's been a lot of winning around here. Obviously we had a special run there at River Falls. None of us, whether it's the coaches or the players, none of us have lost many games recently. And we're all kind of fighting through this together."
It's a big jump to go from Division III to Division I.
"I'm part of an athletic department now that we're upset that we're not in March madness," Walker said. "The goals are let's go to March Madness, let's win playoff games. Let's win the Missouri Valley Conference in other sports."
This week, Walker's Bulldogs head back to the Minneapolis area. Drake plays St. Thomas on Saturday, which is historically a rivalry game. Tommies head coach Glenn Caruso knows Walker well. And last January, even witnessed his national title in person.
"I hopped on a plane, took a red eye down there and was able to see him and his team buy into what he's been talking about for the last 15 years," said Caruso. "Those are the moments for me that tell me you've great coach right there."
"It'll be special. I'm gonna have a lot of family and friends there," said Walker. "I think River Falls plays at home that day also so I know the whole band won't be getting back together. It'll be fun to be back in the area. I'm already thinking about what postgame food option I'm gonna go to because I know all the places."