Villanova’s football program is not going to wow recruits with a spacious, luxurious weight room like the ones Universities such as Alabama, Penn State or South Carolina can show off to wide-eyed high school stars.

Those schools may all the plush amenities money can buy, but they come up short in one very important area.
They don’t have Phil Matusz running their weight room.

Matusz may be entering just his second year as the head strength and conditioning coach of the Wildcats, but already the former Nova standout defensive lineman has a command and respect from his players many coaches would envy.

Matusz is all-in as a Villanova assistant football coach. He does not appear to be using this position as a stepping stone for a better opportunity at an elite Division 1 program.

“Coming out of high school to Villanova was a humbling experience,” said Matusz, who was a standout lineman at Greenville High School in Beaver, PA. “It obviously changed my life. I didn’t realize it would this big of an impact on me. Between the coaches, the support staff, the players that I met, all my friends here and who I played with…it became my home.”

After graduating in 2010, Matusz let it be known through the football community he wanted to get into coaching.

Matusz was offered an opportunity to intern with the University of Pittsburgh Strength and Conditioning staff.

Before his bags were packed, a call came in from Justus Galac – the long-time and highly successful strength and conditioning coach – that an opening for a paid internship was suddenly available on the Villanova football team. For Matusz, it was a no-brainer.

“I told Justus that I’ll be there in the morning,” Matusz said with laugh during a one-on-one interview with Footballstories.

But Matusz left briefly for a short stint at North Carolina A&T as an assistant strength & conditioning coach.

Matusz returned returned quickly to Villanova as the Olympic Sports Strength & Conditioning coach in 2011.

In this role, he designed and implemented strength, speed, agility and flexibility programs for men’s lacrosse, baseball, softball, volleyball and women’s soccer. He also assisted with the strength program for the Wildcat football team.

It was that experience and his love for Nova football that would make him the easy choice for head coach Andy Talley when it eventually became time to replace Galac.

As their strength coach and leader off the field, Galac helped the 2009 Wildcats win a national championship. Matusz did the same on the field as a fierce defensive lineman who was a captain on the title team. Matusz made an attempt at the NFL, he went to several Pro Days to try out, but pro football was not in his future.

Matusz admits coaching had been on his mind for a while.

“I had a very strong interest my junior year,” Matusz said. “I said to myself ‘are you going to pursue and football opportunities after college?’”

The answer was yes. Matusz was in the right place at the right time to seize the opportunities when they were put in front of him.

In early 2012, Galac accepted the job as strength and conditioning coach of the New York Jets.

Talley immediately named Matusz as Galac’s replacement.

“Phil knows the Villanova culture and he was a disciple of Justus,” said Talley in a recent phone interview. “Phil has done an unbelievable job as the chief motivator for the both the mental and physical growth of the players.”

Talley noted that while the Wildcats football team has a nationally respected profile and resume of success, it is not a “football factory.”
“Players who come here are here for the academics,” Talley said. “Some are coming here for engineering and pre-med. Phil has done a great job of finding the middle ground with the players in that regard.”

Matusz oversees all aspects of the Wildcat football strength and conditioning program.

He says he keeps it simple. He also realizes training methods are constantly changing as sports science offers coaches more and more ideas on how to transfer training methods into playing football in better condition.
“I feel nowadays that there is no one way to train,” said Matusz, who in 2009 was a CSN Honorable All-American and a second team All-CAA.
“A million strength coaches always say there are a million ways to skin a cat. And there truly is. There’s Olympic-style lifting, there’s power lifting, there’s high-intensity training…there are all types of training out there. I believe if you are not constantly evolving, changing your thought process on certain things here and there, you’re not growing as a strength coach.”

Matusz said there are however a few exercises that are always going to be around.
“Core exercises that transfer to football include your bench, squat and your cleans.” Matusz said. “I am a firm believer those exercises will be around for years to come in some capacity. A lot of strength coaches use all the Olympic lifts…I’ll train the hang cleans, I’ll train movements of the hang clean, I don’t power-snatch my guys, hang snatch my guys or power clean my guys, why? A lot of guys can’t do it.
“A lot of guys can’t get into a good position to pull,” Matusz continued. “We will have guys that could do all the Olympic lifts, no problem. But at the same time I can’t say more than half the guys are going to be able to do it with great technique.”

Matusz pointed out that he has time constraints with his players and the job of training an entire football team to get ready for the season.

“I only have four or five years with the guys,” Matusz said. “They are not training to become USA Weight lifters. They are here to be football players and if I don’t maximize my time with them, we won’t be ready.”

Matusz said he just focuses on training that transfers to their sport.

“There are all these exercises you can use to mimic those same movements that are more specific to what we do on the field,” said Matusz, who looks like he could still slap on the pads and take on the top offensive linemen in the game. “I believe more in a mentality where we are mimicking what we’re doing on the field on more of a daily basis. We are doing all of our box jumps. All of our bed ball acceleration moves, everything that is going to mimic what we do on the field.”

Talley said Matusz is a big part of recruiting players to Villanova. His natural leadership skills and football resume as a Wildcat are much more attractive to a recruit than the size of the well-equipped but relatively small weight room.

“Every kid gets a personal interview with Phil for at least a half hour on their recruiting visit,” Talley said. “Phil loves what he is doing and is a sponge for knowledge and is not afraid to to seek information. He is a tremendous recruiting tool for us.”

Matusz said he knows from personal experience how difficult it can be for a player making the jump from high school to the college football.

“I know what they are going through because I went through it,” Matusz said. “Just learning the tempo is the biggest adjustment. I can say from experience, I didn’t understand how fast the tempo was . When you step on that practice field it is fast. The people you’re playing against are not your buddies from high school anymore, these are the best of the best of Double A football.
“In the trenches it’s physical,” he continued. “You are going against the best. We know we are in a physical conference and we have to be fast and physical…we have to be able to last four quarters. Not a lot of guys play as freshmen. Those who do play as freshmen have done a lot of training in the past and are very knowledgeable of the game and adapt very quickly.”

Matusz says he stresses to players that technique is more important that how much weight a player lifts. Every day at every gym in America, there are guys standing in front of a mirror swinging an 80-pound dumbbell for curls up and down just so he can say he used an 80-pound dumbbell.

In reality, that guy is the dumbbell. He is not getting much of anything from that discipline because of bad technique. A 50- or 55-pound dumbbell with proper technique would have produced better results.

“Technique is extremely important,” Matusz said. “I sit here and map out the program and I have an idea of what I want to hit. I take the players one by one. I want them to execute all their exercises with great technique. Our squats are below parallel. Our chest is up, our eyes are forward…nice tight back and we’re executing out squats with great technique. I would rather have one of my players squat 315 (pounds) for five (repetitions) with great technique than squat 405 for eight or ten with terrible technique…where knees are buckling in, chest is dropping. The thing I am a firm believer in is if I can get these guys to do the technique properly, we’ll progress them. If I can get one of my linebackers this year to squat 315 for five with great technique, you know what? Next year at this time we will get him to get 335, you’re improving if you still have great technique. You’re getting stronger.”

All of this is now his world as long as he wants to be. Matusz, when he is coaching his players looks like he is enjoying every minute while maintaining the discipline needed to command a football team at this level.

“It is a day-by-day experience for me,” he said. “I love what I do, I love coming in, I love pulling into the parking lot at 5:45 AM everyday. And yes I am excited to do it. I’m the first one here, prepping for these guys and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I am honored to be here.
“I feel Villanova is the best place for me,” Matusz continued, “The people here, it’s a great university and the kind off kids that we get are willing to be coached, have a great attitude and are will to do what it takes. These are guys you want to be around and being at my alama mater I feel more of a connection to these guys.”

To the casual fan or to those fans who never played football at a serious level, this off season weightlifting stuff may seem boring or uninteresting. And that is understandable.

But to a head coach and his players, how they approach the time they have together and what they do with that time can and often decide the success of the season.

“He is without a doubt the most important coach on my staff,” Talley said of Mutusz. “He is my go-to guy because he is with these players all year round, 24/7. I tell new players that if you want to do well here you need to make best friends with the trainer and with Coach Matusz. He will be the one who will make sure you stay on the field. And Phil, like Justus was, will be the reason for our success.”