Track and field coach encourages athletes to progress

For De Anza College Cross Country and Track and Field coach Nick Mattis, it was only a matter of time before he started coaching track and field; it’s in his blood.

Born in Iowa, Mattis’ father served as a High School Cross Country and Track and Field coach and continues coaching today after 46 years on the job.

Growing up Mattis played both football and ran track and field, but suffered a knee injury while playing football his freshman year in college.

His playing career may have been over after his injury, but that’s when his coaching career began.

“I started coaching while I was in college after the injury and I kind of quit playing sports in college,” said Mattis, “I knew I always wanted to coach even before the injury because of my dad, but my knee injury was the transition point.”

Mattis’ road to coaching at De Anza is a unique one. Prior to coaching at De Anza, he lived in Illinois for 9 years where he served as the coach at Danville Community College.

From Illinois, Mattis moved to Montana for a year, where the De Anza coaching opportunity would soon present itself to him.

“I was in Montana freezing cold, didn’t like it, always snowing, and I started Google searching the for jobs everywhere.”

At the time Mattis was working a desk job and was eager to get back to coaching.

“I applied to so many different jobs that when De Anza called asking if I was still interested I was like yes, who are you again?”

Mattis drove for two days from Montana in order to make it to De Anza for the interview.

“Even if I didn’t get the job, I needed to use vacation time and I had never been to the Bay Area so I figured it would be fun.”

A week later, Mattis was offered the job as head coach of the Cross Country and Track and Field team. That summer, Mattis drove back and forth from Montana to the Bay area three times, putting 9,000 miles on his car.

Since coming to De Anza Mattis has a long list of accolades including leading the De Anza Men’s and Women’s Cross Country team to the California Cross Country State Championships his first seven years,and even placing as high as 4th in the women’s in 2009.

He has also has 3 track and field state champions individually.

This year, The Dons sent 11 women and two men to the 2016 California State Track and Field Championships, 12 coming home with medals.

As much as Mattis loves winning, he enjoys seeing his athletes progress even more.

“My favorite part about coaching is getting to see the people develop and succeed, seeing them move on and knowing you had a part in that is a really fun and rewarding thing” he said.

In addition to coaching, Mattis also serves as a full time faculty member at De Anza teaching numerous physical education courses. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, and a Masters degree in Kinesiology from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois.