Daily News-Record

August was always Mickey Matthews' favorite month.

Growing up in Andrews, Texas - in a house across the street from the local high school - the James Madison football coach enjoyed waking up and watching the teens' morning football practices in the summer.

"I love to coach football, so I enjoy being on the practice field," Matthews said in his Bridgeforth Stadium office. "My most favorite month of the year is August. I love August. I always loved watching morning practices."

This August was different.

Matthews' son, Clayton, was seriously injured in a car crash on Aug. 3 in Harrisonburg and spent most of the rest of the month being treated at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville for paralysis. Matthews' players had just reported to preseason practice and the Dukes' season-opener on Aug. 31 against Liberty was less than four weeks away.

"I don't even remember the month of August," Matthews said. "It seemed like Clayton had his wreck and I looked up and we're playing Liberty.

"I'm sure I was not a very good coach in the month of August. I just had other priorities. I'm sure that did hurt us. I don't deny that."

Matthews, a 50-year-old former college halfback with a professed dislike for newspaper reporters, has been known to bristle when asked about play-calling or personnel decisions.

But as he sat in his office, in the wake of a 6-6 season, uncertain whether he will be retained by JMU, Matthews spoke candidly about the 2003 campaign and his son's injury, even joking at one point that the interview had become "pretty deep."

Matthews' original five-year contract expires on Jan. 31 and Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne has made no decision on whether to rehire the pugnacious coach. Matthews wouldn't say much about that situation, but he was far more open when it came to how he balanced supporting a now wheelchair-bound son while coaching a Division I-AA football team.

"Was it fun to coach this year?" Matthews asked, repeating a question. "I think it's impossible to describe. It was the first time I had to deal with family tragedy and try to balance it with my professional job. I have two families. I had to look out for both of them and do the best I could with both of them."

In August, that meant arriving at JMU at 6 a.m. to watch tape of the previous day's practices. Then, after the Dukes' morning practice, Matthews would make the hour drive over Afton Mountain to Charlottesville to be with his son and wife, Kay.

Matthews would return to Harrisonburg in time for afternoon practices, and then make the drive back to the hospital again.

"I thought he handled things better than anybody could," assistant head coach Curt Newsome said. "He was still our head coach throughout the season. With what he went through, I don't know how he was able to focus as well as he did."

Matthews said the drives back to JMU gave him time to regroup. In the rear-view mirror were blood tests, CAT scans and heartache. In front of him were 92 college athletes awaiting his instruction.

The treks were so physically and emotionally draining, defensive coordinator Dick Hopkins said assistant coaches offered to drive Matthews, fearing for his safety.

"I'm sure I wasn't in the best physical shape," Matthews said. "I was tired. They probably picked up on that.

"I just tried to regroup before I got to the practice field every day."

It wasn't easy. Clayton had played for the Dukes each of the past two seasons before an unrelated back injury forced him to leave the team in the spring. With many of the players still close to Clayton, Matthews had to give the team daily updates on his son's condition.

On the field, Newsome said, Matthews had an escape from what he was coping with off it.

"I thought at times this was his best medicine," Newsome said. "He stayed close to the family the entire time, but he was able to put his time in here, and I think that was therapeutic."

For Kay, there was no escape, no therapy. Matthews said she spent all her time at Clayton's side. Although Matthews once called Clayton his best friend, he said Kay is closer to the couple's two children - Clayton, 21, and Meredith Anne, 25 -- in large part because of his job.

Years ago, he said, Meredith told him it seemed he left for work in August and didn't come home until November.

"There's no secret that Kay's raised the children during the fall," Matthews said. "I've always been very supplemental. That's the way our marriage has been."

But Matthews is extremely close to Clayton, who was a fixture at Bridgeforth Stadium even during his days as a standout quarterback/receiver at Spotswood High School. In addition to the numerous family photographs the coach has in his office, Matthews has a picture of the family on the field after Clayton quarterbacked his Athens, Ga., high school team to a state championship in 1999. The elder Matthews, who had recently taken the job at Madison, is standing next to his son, wearing both a Dukes' football hat and a proud smile.

The smile is what his assistants noticed when - after a two-month stay at Shepherd Rehabilitation Center in Atlanta - Clayton returned to Harrisonburg and once again became a regular visitor at JMU practices and games.

"He always had a bigger smile on his face when Clayton was around," Newsome said. "He always has."

Matthews is just happy to see that continue.

"We're just glad he's alive," Matthews said. "The fact that he could even come to practice is fun to me."

Now, Clayton continues his rehab daily, working with a specialist in Waynesboro. Matthews and his assistants, meanwhile, watch tapes and get ready for the recruiting season.

"We want to continue this," Hopkins said. "We're not done."

As for Matthews - new contract or not - he's looking forward to another August with his son.
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Record Number: 109E395A648FED1E