Keep Swinging
Matt Entz and Tom Hager
In Partnership with Athletes For God
“I’ll meet you on stage after the game.”
Here I was, standing in a crowded locker room, giving my final instructions to the team before we took the field. We were about to play James Madison for the 2019 FCS national championship, and even though I wasn’t super emotional before kickoff, I wanted to give them the confidence we were going to win this game.
Of course, given our program’s track record, our players didn’t even need the pep talk to believe in themselves. Our team had won seven of the last eight national championships, and we were entering the game with a 36-game winning streak. The biggest question of my coaching career wasn’t whether we would win this game.
It was if I would ever have the opportunity.
My name is Matt Entz, and I’m the head coach of the North Dakota State football team. That game was the culmination of my two decades in the coaching profession, but until last year I had never been a head coach in my life. That 22-year journey to become a head coach was maybe longer than many of my peers, but it changed the coach I am today. And it also brought me closer to God.
This is my story.
My journey didn’t really start in 1995, when I graduated from Wartburg College… and it didn’t even start in 1998 when I graduated from Wayne State College. I would actually say my journey started when I was a young kid, growing up in Waterloo, Iowa.
To say that I grew up in a Christian household would be an understatement. My grandfather and great grandfather both had their doctorates in theology, and I had three uncles who were all pastors in the Lutheran church. My wife also grew up in a Christian household, and one of my uncles even read one of the Bible verses at our wedding.
My parents raised me to have the same values as them, and as a young kid I attended youth group and Sunday School. Those experiences laid the foundation for the person I am today, but when I got to college my faith hit a speed bump. It wasn’t that I stopped believing, but I didn’t make my faith my top priority, and I paid the price. I made a few poor decisions and ruined some relationships, so I had to learn things the hard way.
What ended up turning things around for me was a Wednesday morning chapel. I started to go on a regular basis, and got my life back on track where it needed to be. I started to open my ears again to the good word, and started to think about the message that was being said every week, rather than thinking I had the answer. That faith has been at the center of my life ever since, and to this day it’s still my top priority. I have the verse Matthew 7:7 on my Twitter Bio, and even though I hope it’s inspired my followers to look up the verse, I actually posted it as a personal challenge to myself.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
That verse refers specifically to seeking Jesus, not just any desire we have…if simply asking God meant that He would give us what we wanted, my journey toward becoming a head coach would have been a lot easier. Before I could ever stand in that NDSU locker room, I would have to pay my dues.
If you saw my introductory press conference at North Dakota State, you know that I didn’t get to that position on my own.
As soon as I started naming off the people who paved the way for me, I immediately got emotional. First off, I had to thank Chris Klieman, the previous head coach at NDSU. He remains one of my closest friends to this day, and we text or call each other weekly.
The other coach I had to mention was Bob Nielson, who gave me the opportunity to become a college football player. He took a chance on me out of high school, and guided our program (Wartburg College) from a 5-5 record my sophomore year to a 10-2 record as a senior. He is one of the best people I’ve ever been around in my life, and he probably influenced my decision to get into the coaching profession myself. My first gig was in 1998 as defensive coordinator at Illinois College.
My pay wasn’t terrific, and I certainly didn’t live in luxury, but I actually look back fondly on those days. I worked with some outstanding coaches, and being the low man on the totem pole helped keep me grounded when I became a head coach. But above all, there was one really great thing about my first job…it gave me the chance to meet my wife, Brenda. She was there with me the entire way as I tried to work my way up the professional ladder, even if I was starting at the bottom step.
Brenda and I were together for 4 years before I finally asked her to marry me. Looking back I can say I have absolutely no regrets about that…it allowed us to not only be ready from a financial standpoint, but we also got to make sure we were the right person for each other. This summer will mark our 20-year anniversary, and I can honestly say that not only is Brenda my wife, she’s also one of my best friends in the world. My life is more enjoyable having her in it.
Brenda has always put others in front of herself, and finds joy in other people’s success. She also has a way of being there for people when that success isn’t happening right away.
Like many coaches, I had aspirations of quickly rising through the ranks. Of course, each opening has dozens of qualified applicants, and at some point early on in my career I had to adjust that things weren’t going to happen exactly as I had planned. As I started my 14th year in the profession, I still had yet to be a coordinator or work at an FBS program. As it turned out, that journey turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
I started out as what I would call a transactional coach. I would try to put players in positions to succeed, and they would then put me in a position to succeed. To move up. To jump to the FBS level. To be a head coach.
At a certain point I realized that coaching was so much more than that. It’s about relationships. And loving your players. And enjoying where you’re at in life. I had to be okay with knowing that becoming a head coach might never happen. It was also during that same time that I turned from a transactional coach to a transformational coach. I wanted to help change the trajectory of these kids’ lives, and if I never got to become a head coach along the way, that was okay.
But that didn’t mean I was giving up on my dreams. As I tell my players, keep swinging.
I got my big break in 2014 when Chris Klieman took over the NDSU program. As he started to assemble his roster, he decided to offer me the defensive coordinator position. The decision was an easy one to make…By the time Chris was taking the NDSU job, the Bison were already coming off three consecutive national championships and had won 43 of their last 45 games.
Chris picked up right where Craig Bohl had left off, and in his five years, we won four more national titles. I was now getting offers to coach at FBS programs, but by this point I really didn’t need to. I had a good situation here in Fargo. We were winning, I had job security, and most importantly my family was happy. My wife was involved in the community, and I had two kids growing up in high school, and I never felt the need to pull them away from all their friends here.
Plus, we weren’t just winning here…I had the opportunity to be that transformational coach I was striving to be. We have about 40-50 players and staff that attend mass or chapel on game day, and I make sure to join them. I’m not always the best at communicating my faith, and it’s great to see the players take the initiative to seek that on their own. After chapel I usually take some time to be alone and pray to God for strength, wisdom, and poise. I am by no means a finished product, but like my motto says, keep swinging.
But last year’s pre-game routine took on a slightly different tone for me, because for the first time in my life I was finally a head coach.
When NDSU President Dean Bresciani and athletic director Matt Larsen walked into my office in December of 2018, the head coaching position was not on the forefront of my mind. We had a playoff game that week, and my thoughts were on film and game prep. But when Dean and Matt asked if I would be interested in interviewing for the head coaching position, the answer was an easy one. Yes.
It’s hard to explain what makes this program such a consistent winner, but I believe it all comes down to the relationships we’ve built here in Fargo. When I turned into a transformational coach, my relationships with my players went to a new level. I am interested in how things are going with their family, with their classes, and what I can do to help them out. While my players may find this hard to believe, it wasn’t all that long ago that I was their age. At some point in my college career I realized I wasn’t living up to my potential, and that’s why I turned my life around. If I can help my players realize the bigger picture around them as well, then I’ve done my job.
Of course, relationships are no guarantee of wins, and as we began last year, there were a lot of doubts if we could keep this thing going. We had won 7 of 8 national championships, but we had lost 25 seniors from the year before, and we were playing a freshman quarterback. And worst of all, we had an inexperienced head coach. My main fear was that I would get in the way of what we had created here, that Matt Entz would find a way to lose the game.
And it just so happened my first test would be in front of 35,000 people at Target Field. We held our season opener last year at the Minnesota Twins stadium, and as I ran out of the tunnel it was one of the coolest feelings I’ve ever had as a coach. I remember looking around the stadium, seeing all those fans, and just feeling like the whole moment was surreal. That was the moment I had to step back and be thankful for my blessings.
If I did feel any butterflies before the game, my players did a great job of putting those to rest. We won that game, and the next, and the next. By the end of the regular season we were 12-0 and our quarterback, Trey Lance, had yet to throw an interception. That streak continued as we enjoyed home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and after we beat Montana State 42-14, we had punched our ticket to the national championship game.
Little did I know that I was about to take part in one of the greatest games in FCS history.
I might not have given the most legendary pregame speech our players had ever seen that day, but I didn’t need to. Our alumni took care of that the day before.
We had at least 200 former players show up in Frisco, Texas, to get our team ready for the game. It almost felt like a homecoming, but we had a big task in front of us. Those men knew what it took to win a championship, and they knew the pressure our players would be under the next day.
When the game started, we found ourselves in the rare position of being behind. We had barely trailed the whole season, but midway through the first quarter we were down 7-0. A pair of touchdown runs by Adam Cofield and Phoenix Sproles put us up 14-7, and by halftime we were able to extend that lead to 21-10, thanks to a fake field goal touchdown run by James Hendricks. We were feeling good about our chances.
Trey Lance started off the fourth quarter with a 44-yard touchdown run to put us up 28-13, and by that point it seemed like we were a few stops from another title…but James Madison (who was 14-1) wouldn’t go down without a fight. They responded with a touchdown with 6:55 remaining to make it a one-possession game at 28-20.
We drove down to the JMU 37-yard line when we faced a crucial fourth-and-2 with three minutes to go. A punt wouldn’t have made much sense, so we lined up in a bunch formation and put it in the hands of Trey. Of course, James Madison didn’t get to the championship game by accident, and as Trey lowered his shoulder for the first down, they stopped him short.
Now the national title rested in the hands of our defense.
James Madison worked their way to our 41-yard line when they faced a fourth down of their own. They opted for a shovel pass, and as our linebackers made the tackle, it appeared we might have just won the championship. The refs ruled it a first down, only to head over to the booth for the replay. The call stood, but at this point there were only 49 seconds left on the clock. And with the championship always being just one stop or turnover away, my message to the team remained the same.
Keep swinging.
A completion and a pair of penalties brought the ball all the way down to our three-yard line. Then JMU ran a play we had been preparing for all year. Our fifth-year senior James Hendricks had probably seen this play 100 times in practice, so much so that after the ball was snapped, he left his own man to jump the route. Sure enough, when JMU quarterback Ben DiNucci let the ball go, Hendricks was there for the pick.
Just two seconds remained, and I grabbed James to give him a big hug.
The scene after the final play was total chaos. I quickly shook hands with JMU coach Curt Cignetti – maybe a little too quickly – but I was in such a rush to join our players in the end zone. They were heading toward the direction of our fans, only to have all of Bison Nation pour onto the field.
I fulfilled my promise to the players and met them on the stage to receive the trophy, but that actually wasn’t my favorite part of the day. That would come about 30 minutes later, when I was answering questions at the post-game press conference. I had patiently answered one question after another, when a couple of players came up to me.
“You’ve got to come into the locker room,” they said. “It’s time.”
Our players and staff had actually waited to celebrate the championship until I got there, and once I stepped foot inside the locker room, our players went crazy. But the fact that our players waited so that I could share that moment with them meant the world to me.
When I decided to become a transformational coach, these were the kinds of relationships I was hoping to create. I don’t know if that will mean another championship in 2020, but there’s only one way to find out.