Roland Matthews begins his sixth season as a member of the Blue Hose staff. He will spend 2021 as the defensive line coach. Matthews, a 2014 graduate of Presbyterian College, returned to his alma mater after a two-year stint at Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C.
During the seven-game spring season, Matthews served as the defensive coordinator for a defense that was led by Colby Campbell with his 96 tackles and 7.0 tackles for loss. Campbell set a DI single-game record with 25 tackles against Davidson on April 10th. As a team PC had a turnover margin of 0.29 which ranked 34th in all of FCS. PC gained 15 turnovers which ranked 10th in FCS. Presbyterian's defense allowed only 167.0 yards per game which ranked 14th in the FCS ranks.
During the 2019 season, he helped lead Tanner Wilhelm to 53 tackles and 6.0 tackles for loss on the year with 4.0 sacks. Tyler Wilhelm added 44 stops and 4.5 tackles for loss with Tre Lanham adding 42 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
In 2018 he helped lead Gyasi Yeldell to a second team all-conference selection that saw him have a solid year with 51 tackles, 9.5 tfl, 5.5 sacks and a pair of forced fumbles.
Matthews spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Monarchs, serving in several different roles, including equipment coordinator. He spent his first season as defensive line coach, before moving to outside linebackers and special teams coordinator in 2015.
During his time at Methodist, Matthews also served as assistant academic coordinator and assistant film coordinator in addition to his coaching and equipment duties. He helped the Monarchs finish in the top of the conference in a number of defensive categories, while coaching three All-Conference players and a Third-Team All-American.
Prior to joining the staff at Methodist in 2014, Matthews served as a student assistant at PC for three seasons. He assisted as defensive line coach in 2013, serving as defensive tackles coach in his final year as a student. He had a number of different roles with program, assisting with practices, in-game coaching and recruiting.
Matthews graduated from PC in May 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in both Religion and Christian education. The native of Camden, S.C. is married to the former Caitlin McMahan of Brevard, N.C...
