Cornell College Football Camps - Mount Vernon, Iowa

Cornell College Football Camps

Coaching Staff

Matt Dillon, Head Coach

Matt Dillon, who coached West Des Moines (Iowa) Dowling High School to the 2000 and 2001 Class 4A state football championships, begins his second season as head football coach at Cornell College, his alma mater. The Rams finished 2-8 overall, 0-8 in the Iowa Conference in Dillon's first season in 2006. Dillon owns a 146-110 career record in 25 years coaching football.

Dillon graduated from Cornell in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and business. He received a master’s degree in physical education from Iowa State University in 1986. Dillon was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and was selected as the quarterback on the Cornell all-century team in 1992. He was a team captain three times from 1978 to 1980 and was a team MVP in 1978 and 1980.

“This is a tremendous opportunity and I’m excited to take on the challenges of this job,” Dillon said. “This is the job I’ve dreamed of having since May of 1981.”

In 24 years as a high school head coach, Dillon is best known for piloting Dowling to a 79-20 record from 1996-2005 and advancing to the state playoffs seven times. The Maroons won the championship twice and were runner-up in 1998. Last season Dillon was head coach at West Hall (Ga.) High School and won three regional games while starting two freshmen, nine sophomores and six juniors. From 1982-87 Dillon was head coach at North Polk (Iowa) High School and led the Comets to their first playoff appearance and first playoff victory in 1986. He then coached Bozeman (Mont.) High School from 1987-89 and led the team to its first winning season in more than a decade. From 1989-92 Dillon coached Lake Worth (Fla.) High School and helped lead it to the first back-to-back winning seasons in a decade. He coached at Wellington (Fla.) High School from 1992-96 and led the school to its first winning season in school history (8-2) and qualified for the state playoffs for the first time in school history.

Dillon, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., played at Cornell from 1977-80, where he became one of the most prolific passers in NCAA history. During that time the Rams compiled a record of 30-6 and won Midwest Conference Championships in 1978 and 1980. For his career, Dillon completed 307 of 568 passes for 4,877 yards and 49 touchdowns. He still shares a school record with five touchdown passes in a game, against Coe in 1978 and the University of Chicago in 1980.

“Cornell is a great place to go to school and get an education,” Dillon said. “I had an outstanding football experience here and some really positive things happened to me while I was at Cornell.”

Dillon and his wife, Marva, have three children. Zach, 24, graduated from Baylor University in 2005 and is playing professional baseball in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Samantha, 21, is a junior at Cornell. Joey, 19, is a freshman at Iowa State University.

Eric Waldstein, Running Backs/Special Teams Coach

Waldstein begins his second season on Cornell's coaching staff. He has strong ties in the Iowa Conference, where he played two seasons at Buena Vista and coached three seasons at Simpson. This is his second season as running backs coach and first season as special teams coordinator at Cornell.

Waldstein graduated from Sioux Central (Iowa) High School in 1994 and played guard, fullback and tight end at Buena Vista two years before transferring to Morningside. He was a two-year starter at Morningside and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1998. Waldstein earned a master's degree in physical education, health and recreation from the University of South Dakota in 2001. Waldstein was a graduate assistant at Morningside from 1998-2000, working with the offensive line, linebackers and defensive line. In 2001 he was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at South Dakota Tech in Rapid City, S.D., before heading to Simpson where he worked with running backs and tight ends from 2001-04. He was inside linebackers coach from 2004-06 at Carthage College, where he also coached the throwers in track and field.

Waldstein and his wife, Hillary, reside in Solon.

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Adam Bentz, Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line

A native of Harlan (Iowa), Bentz begins his sixth season as assistant coach and third year as defensive coordinator.

Bentz graduated from Buena Vista University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in world and American history, and a concentration in exercise science while obtaining a secondary education endorsement. He received an associate of arts degree from Iowa Central Community College in 1999.

In football, Bentz was named Iowa Central’s most inspirational player and All-Region XI fullback in 1998, Buena Vista newcomer of the year and Iowa Conference Academic All-Conference in 1999. Bentz played on the 1995 Class 3A state championship team at Harlan and in two Pepsi Cola Bowls with Iowa Central.

Bentz was a student assistant for the Buena Vista football team in 2001. He also was head junior high girls’ basketball and head varsity boys’ track and field coach at Storm Lake St. Mary’s in 2001-02.

Bentz is married to 2001 Cornell graduate Bobbi Buckner. They reside in North Liberty.