Cornell College Football Camps - Mount Vernon, Iowa

Cornell College Football Camps

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 fourth season as Cornell's head football coach in 2009. Dillon, a 1981 Cornell graduate, owns a 148-128 career record in 27 years coaching football.

Dillon earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and business from Cornell in 1981. 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 1978-1980 and 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, 25, graduated from Baylor University in 2005 and is playing professional baseball in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Samantha, 22, is a senior at Cornell. Joey, 20, is a sophomore at Iowa State University.