That season ended with state championships for Mathis’ Class A Bulldogs - their second in three years - and Woodson’s 5A Wildcats.
“That was awesome,” Mathis, now in his first season as head coach at DeSoto near Dallas, recalled Wednesday. “I knew about Adrian Woodson and a lot about Temple’s tradition. To have two guys on the cover and both won state championships that season, that’s crazy.”
On Saturday afternoon, Mathis will be on the visiting sideline at Waco ISD Stadium, guiding his District 11-5A co-champion Eagles (5-5) and staring across the field at the familiar uniforms of the Temple Wildcats (5-5) in a 5A Division I bi-district playoff game.
And Mathis literally will be looking at a pair of family members playing for Temple - junior fullback/linebacker Derrick Davis and senior running back Marcus Jones are two of his cousins. Also, former Temple star and NFL running back Kenneth Davis is Mathis’ uncle.
“Temple has always had a lot of tradition and with Coach (Bob) McQueen there they were awesome,” Mathis said. “Temple has a very good ballclub. I know Coach McQueen is still around there, and as long as he’s around I know they’ll be good. I have a lot of respect for him.”
Mathis admitted that he almost moved to Temple before his senior year at Bartlett before changing his mind.
Of course, everything worked out pretty well for Mathis, who at 5-9 and 155 pounds was small but explosive and productive.
As a sophomore in 1990 Mathis ran for 527 yards to help Wayne Mahaffey-coached Bartlett go 15-1 and capture the first of its three Class A state crowns in the 1990s.
A two-time all-state player, Mathis exceeded 2,000 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns in each of his final two seasons as coach Terry Cron’s Bulldogs - ranked No. 1 throughout his senior year - went 25-2-2 and added a second state title in 1992.
All the while, he was also one of the state’s top cornerbacks.
Asked about what stands out from his stellar Bartlett career, Mathis said it was the feeling he and the Bulldogs got from winning big and receiving rabid community support.
“You can’t get that spirit back,” he said. “I remember the Bulldog fans with the stands packed, playing in front of 5,000 fans. Holding up those two (state championship) trophies, I’ll never forget that.”
Mathis went on to have a successful four-year career at NCAA Division I-AA Southwest Texas State, where he still owns Bobcats records for rushing yards in a season (1,595) and a career (4,691).
Mathis says he didn’t have any specific plans to become a coach but that Trent Gregory, a former Bartlett assistant whom Mathis called his “mentor,” told him “he thought it was in me.”
Mathis served as running backs coach and offensive coordinator at Austin Anderson for five years before landing his first head coaching job at 2A Somerville in 2003.
From there it was on to 4A Austin LBJ, where he guided the Jaguars to three straight playoffs trips from 2005-07 - including the Division I Region III title game last year, when eventual champion Rosenberg Lamar Consolidated edged LBJ 17-14 in overtime.
Those accomplishments helped Mathis get hired by DeSoto, a perennial postseason qualifier - the Eagles’ streak of consecutive playoff berths is almost two decades long - with a bevy of athletes.
He’s not shy about saying that expectations at DeSoto far surpass anything he experienced at Somerville and LBJ. One might say they’re about as high as the ones he dealt with as a star at Bartlett.
“The expectations here are very, very high - I could feel that when we started 1-4 this year,” he said with a laugh. “Compared to the two places I was at before DeSoto, it’s unbelievable.
“Being a young coach, it’s been a roller-coaster but it’s been fun. We do have some very talented players and we have good coaches, too. We have kids who are coachable and they do the right thing."
And now, 16 years removed from his final season as a small-town superstar at Bartlett, Mathis is happy to reflect on where football has led him - which on Saturday will be facing a Temple program he knows quite well.
“I’m blessed,” Mathis said. “I’ve been very fortunate to be surrounded by great coaches, great people and great kids. I hope I’m known for being a disciplinarian who takes programs to a higher level."
gwille@temple-telegram.com
