‘Battle is a special place’: Matthew Herman returns to Battle football as head coach
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Battle High School is familiar ground for Columbia-native Matthew Herman. He's taking over the same program that gave him his coaching start in 2013, in hopes to bring stability to the Spartan program.
Herman is the third head football coach that Battle has seen in four years. The program first started with current Hallsville head coach Justin Conyers, then current Mizzou Director of Player Relations Atiyyah Ellison took over and then, most recently, Mizzou football alum Jonah Dubinski was at the helm of the program. Dubinski suddenly stepped down at the end of July, about a month before the start of the 2023 season.
The school district hired Herman over the high school dead period, just before the first practice of August. The Hickman alum has seen success in the Battle program before. He was an assistant coach during the Spartans' state championship win and six district titles. Herman said he hopes to bring back that tradition of success.
"To me, I think it's some of the things I thought we did very well that maybe they've made a change or maybe they did differently and bringing back those traditions," he said. "Our Spartans Creed, when coach Ellison took over, we really bought into that. It's kind of who we are, so bringing that back."
You can watch the full interview with Herman in the video player below.
Herman had most recently been coaching Hawaii, but knew this was the right opportunity for him and his family. He said Columbia has always been home to him. He added that he actually knew about 70 percent of the staff that was still working with the Spartan program, as well as many of the seniors of the roster.
"They need some stability and I wanted to be that guy for them," he said. "It's a special group of kids. Battle's a special place and so when it came time to make a decision, I kinda had to go with the heart on that one."
Herman knows the challenge he has lying ahead of him, as the season is less than a month away. He said he's not going to go changing the terminology on his kids, but move forward with things they already know and build on that.
The biggest thing for Herman and his coaching staff right now is building trust with this team. He said it all starts with the seniors.
"They kind of know who I am, so making sure that they're the leaders of the group and understanding what we're about at Battle High School, our standards, our traditions and bringing those things back for us to be successful," Herman said. "Really it's jus conversations, getting to know a guy's name, calling them by name, putting tape on their helmets because I got to learn all their names. For me, it's just learning their names and building that trust and reliability."
Herman and the Spartans will kick off the season against on August 25 at 7 p.m. at Park Hill.
