Matthey prepares for different field

PULLMAN – Plenty of seniors will emerge from the Martin Stadium tunnel for the last time Saturday night in Washington State University’s home football finale.

A year from now some of them will be playing in the NFL, some will have a desk job, others will probably make the trip back to Pullman to congratulate another group of graduating players.

One will be preparing for war.

Mark Matthey isn’t the best-known Cougar – a former all-Greater Spokane League performer at Mead, he’s played in just one game as a walk-on defensive lineman for WSU. But since high school, Matthey has been intent on joining the Marines. Even before he accepts a diploma in the spring, he’ll be on his way to becoming a ground officer serving overseas.

“Everybody’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s nuts,’ ” Matthey said. “I feel like I’m really going to be good at it. So why go out and get a job where I’m just going to be (there) and not really like it? When I could go do something, be productive, and help out the country.”

Matthey is in the application process and met with a recruiting officer this week. By next October he should be in Officer Candidates School, getting ready for an eight-year commitment.

“He’s going to be leading troops into battle, so I think he’s doing something that’s really cool and really admirable,” said defensive end Adam Braidwood, one of Matthey’s roommates. “It’s not going to be any joke. He’s going in to fight. He’s going to be right in the thick of things.”

Even though joining the military is something he’s long considered, the decision hasn’t been an easy one for Matthey. His father served in Vietnam and his grandfather in World War II, and he said his family wasn’t thrilled with the idea at first.

But the lifestyle and the opportunity to serve appeal to the 22-year-old, and even the events of the last four-plus years haven’t swayed him from that sentiment – not to mention the fact that he’ll have to drop 60 pounds from his football playing weight in 11 months.

“I kind of feel like I need the structure,” Matthey said. “It’s something that I want in my life. I’ve always liked being around it. I like lifting at 6 in the morning because it gets me out of bed. The structure of having to do stuff, I work well in that situation.”

Matthey had considered joining straight out of high school, and he again thought about it after a year at WSU on the track team. But his coaches at Mead, still close to Matthey, have helped point him in the direction of finishing school while also supporting his long-term goal.

“We try to give them a direction as far as what we think they need without pushing them,” Mead head coach Sean Carty said. “At the time, he was seeing in himself a little need for discipline in his life. Not that he was undisciplined, but some hard-nosed get after it.”

Some of his current coaches, while more skeptical at times, are still impressed with Matthey for making his decision with conviction.

“When he wants to do something, he puts his mind to it and just does it,” defensive line coach Mike Walker said. “I know he’s going to go in there and they’re going to love him. He’ll move up the charts real fast. He’s that kind of kid.”

Getting beat up in practice without the reward of playing time on Saturdays is considered one of the greater sacrifices a college football player can make. But Matthey said testing himself at the Division I-A level has been worth it and served as good preparation for the much greater challenge that lies ahead.

“I’ve always kind of tried to push myself to the limits,” Matthey said. “I came here. I could have gone to a lot of smaller schools. I had a lot of scholarship offers to smaller schools. But you know, if I came here, what if I could accomplish all these things I want to accomplish? I set the bar high for myself.”

Notes

Head coach Bill Doba said middle linebacker Will Derting should start Saturday night, barring any unexpected setback. Doba said Derting would likely take the first few snaps, then play in passing situations. But he also left open the possibility that the senior captain could play more, even after missing the last five weeks with a knee injury. … Men’s basketball coach Dick Bennett wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in Thursday’s WSU student newspaper, the Daily Evergreen, defending Doba from recent criticisms. “Coaches should be judged by the effort and execution level throughout the game and season,” Bennett wrote. “Poor coaching, in my opinion, is reflected by wildly inconsistent play game to game, lack of great effort game to game, and excuse-making after tough losses. Coach Doba is not guilty of any of these symptoms of poor coaching.”