Our guest for this week’s 4 Questions with the Coach feature is three-time Florida state champion Matt DuBuc, the head football coach at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale. He has led the Chiefs to five title games, winning the championship in 2018, 2020, and 2021. The 2018 state title was the school’s first ever.
DuBuc is a Cardinal Gibbons graduate, and he went on to play football collegiately at Texas Tech University. He then played professionally in the CFL before deciding to enter coaching, which ultimately brought him back to where it all started at Cardinal Gibbons.
Q. Coach DuBuc, I’d guess that it’s every coach’s dream to be the head football coach for the very team they once played for. Was that your goal from the time you graduated from Cardinal Gibbons and left to play college football?
A. The dream is always to come back to where it all started. It means a bit more to walk the halls and continue the traditions that were started way before yourself. It also gives you the credibility to talk about the alumni and the stakeholders because you are one. The pressure comes with not wanting to let your school down.
Q. At Texas Tech, you played in a system where the offense evolved around the passing game, which at the time was going against the grain, so to speak, with most traditional offenses, where the run game was the basis of the offense. Talk about your time with the Red Raiders and the influence it had on you first as a player, and ultimately as a coach.
A. My time in the LBK was one I will never forget. I got to play college football in one of the most beloved states when it comes to all football. The Red Raiders will always be memorable because of all the lifelong friends I made. I participated in four bowl games and got to travel to so many great places. I was also able to play in the first Big 12 Championship Game as a senior against Kansas State.
Q. When you arrived at Cardinal Gibbons, the team wasn’t the football powerhouse it is known as today. What did you feel like you had to do to get the Chiefs up to the same level as some of the surrounding South Florida powerhouse programs?
A. When I got to Gibbons I was able to help rebuild the program. I was an assistant coach to our current athletic director, Mike Morrill. He taught me a lot about the kids and how they are all different. I feel like I had been preparing for the job as a head coach my entire life. If wins define you as a success, then I guess you can say we are. I would say the success of a coach is really based on the things off the field we do as coaches. The game of football is about relationships that are future, current, and past. Our main job is to help to build young people.
Q. Despite a successful season in 2022, there was no repeat championship carrying over from the 2021 state title team. What kind of team will you have to start the 2023 season? Do you feel like you’ll have a good shot at making it back to the championship game with this squad?
A. Unfortunately we did not three-peat. The team we lost to was ranked 12th in the nation. We were right there in the end. We just fell short and could not finish. If you ask any coach, they will tell you to win the title, absolutely everything must fall into place just right. 11-2 is a great year, but we will work extremely hard to get another shot in 2023.
