This week’s guest for our ITG Next Florida 4 Questions with the Coach spotlight is Matt DuBuc, head coach of the Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs football program. DuBuc is an alumni of the Fort Lauderdale school, and since his return he has led the Chiefs to three state championships. (He also led them to a state title game appearance as a player.) He has enjoyed a lifetime of football success, not only as a coach, but as a great high school and college football player as well.
Q. Coach, a lot of people know about your coaching success there at Cardinal Gibbons, but what they may not realize is that you enjoyed a successful high school career at that very same school, before heading off to Texas Tech, where you continued to enjoy success at the collegiate level. You were fortunate to be able to come back to coach the same school where you played. Can you talk about the path that led you away from, and back to, Cardinal Gibbons?
A. Playing college football and then pro football was an accomplishment that I always had as a high school player. I think the lost part of what’s happening with the transfer mindset is the lifelong relationships that you’re able to build within your community and your school. Some of my best memories will always be in the locker room here at Cardinal Gibbons with my friends that I played football with.
Q. While developing your coaching skills, who were the coaches and mentors that made the biggest impact and influenced you the most?
A. My biggest mentor would probably be our athletic director here at Cardinal Gibbons now, Mike Morrill, who coached me in high school and offered me a job when my playing career ended. I learned a lot of football from him and a lot about life and relationships. On the college front, as I was coaching at West Texas A&M, I used to recruit the Lubbock area, where I played at Texas Tech and befriended Mike Leach and members of his staff, which had a major impact on my offensive philosophy.
Q. Let’s talk about your Chiefs. You have what a lot of fans feel is some of the best talent from top to bottom, including one of the best tight ends in the country in Colton Heinrich, a Georgia commit, and a great quarterback in Michael Merdinger, who is heading to North Carolina. Do you think this Cardinal Gibbons team’s best football is still yet to come?
A. I have been very fortunate here at Cardinal Gibbons to coach a lot of good players over my eight-year tenure. I do not think we have played up to expectations at this point, and I hope and pray that in the second season, which is the playoff season, we hit our stride. Both Colton Heinrich and Mike Merdinger are captains on our team, and not only are they good human beings, they are great Cardinal Gibbons student-athletes.
Q. It’s no secret that there are a couple of teams the state championship will have to go through before a champion is crowned at the end of the year. What will it take to defeat those guys?
A. Any good coach will always say you cannot look too far ahead. You know those programs are looming out there and are waiting, but you have to remember, you gotta win the first one to get to the second one, and win the second one to get to the third one, and so on.
