2024 Interview with new Hazard (KY) Head Coach Matthew Chandler

 

Matthew Chandler 

Hazard High School 

Head Football Coach

KCU/Morehead State University 

First, congratulations on getting the Hazard job!

What makes being the head coach at Hazard High School so special for you?

Growing up in the mountains and just having a love for mountain football, taking this job was a no-brainer for me. I grew up watching my uncle walk the sidelines at places like Hazard and Whitesburg and all of those places when he was a head coach at Whitesburg High School. So even though I’ve never been personally connected to Hazard specifically, it represents as a program something really personal for me, and it’s an honor to be a part of it. Knowing my two sons get to watch their dad live out that kind of dream means the world to me.

When you first met with the team, what was the first thing you said to them?

Just how excited I was to get started and how much work we had to do. They’ve been great and have absolutely worked their tails off, and it’s put us way ahead of schedule from a cultural standpoint.

What offense and defense will you run?

On offense, we will try to keep things simple. Try to utilize a lot of formations and motions to run a few concepts that we are really good at in multiple ways. We will use a lot of spread sets, but I’m an o-line guy, so I take a lot of pride in my teams being able to be physical up front and run the football as well. Defensively, we will operate out of a base-odd front (3–4). I think at the 1A level, you typically have more linebackers and DB-type players than you do with multiple or versatile guys up front. Plus, it fits our philosophy of not having to play all of our guys up front both ways the whole game.

Will you have an open competition as to who is starting, or will you stay with the returning starters?

There will be 22 wide open spots across the board. We’ve emphasized to our guys that everyone earns everything. And starting isn’t as important as how much you play. In 1A football, I’m a big believer that however many guys are capable of giving you reps, how many do you need to play? If I can steal reps with capable backups in the first three quarters of a game to be fresh in the fourth, that’s a huge advantage for us.

What are your thoughts on playing in a bowl game?

I love the early-season Bowl games. We played in multiple bowl games at Franklin County, and we actually will be playing in the Recreation Bowl to open the 2025 and 2026 seasons. I think they’re a great way to celebrate the opening of the season, and you get some really unique or cool matchups out of them.

What will you look for as far as opponents go in non-district games?

There’s certainly some challenging games across the board. Corbin is obviously a huge challenge, but all of our non-district opponents are going to be teams that we have to be mentally and physically prepared for to compete and give ourselves a chance to win.

What will a typical practice look like for you as the head coach?

We will practice fast and be efficient. Our guys will know that we have a very specific plan that involves individual positions, groups, and teamwork. We want to coach on the move and get as many quality reps as possible. Last year, it was not out of the ordinary at Franklin County for us to run 70+ offensive plays on our offensive emphasis days alone in 50–55 minutes. We will utilize that same tempo and efficiency.

What will you try to do to get the numbers up for the football team?

We’ve done a really good job of building up our roster so far, and our numbers should be okay. Being in small school football, it’s always something you have to be very intentional about. Part of that is doing everything with a purpose and communicating to everyone individually what their roles are and how important they are to team success. 

What are your thoughts on girls playing on the football team?

I have never coached a team with a female athlete playing football. But as I say with every student athlete, if you can play, you can play! Obviously, there are some physical limitations that come into play as far as girls and football, but if a female athlete came out and proved they could do it, that wouldn’t be any different to me than a male athlete doing the same thing.

If you could make one change when it comes to Kentucky High School football, what would it be?

You hear so many people complaining about RPI and the playoffs. It’s exhausting to hear all of it. I personally think we are in a really good place as a state football team. I don’t think I would make any drastic changes. I would like to see our kids have more opportunities to throw 7 on 7 in June. There’s also summer basketball going on, so I think you would have to limit the number of competitions (kind of like limiting how many scrimmages you get) to avoid making kids pick between the two.

What are your thoughts about student-athletes playing more than one sport?

I love it. I think specialization has cut down on the number of “ball players,” you see. Kids have fewer and fewer opportunities to be put in physically stressful situations where they’re forced to compete when they specialize. Give me a team full of guys who will dive for a loose ball or slide into foul ground for a third out, and we can win some football games! I do think carving out time to get in the weight room while playing multiple sports is a true game changer, though. That’s when you are really onto something.

What was the last book you read, along with the author?

American Commando by John Wukovitz. It’s a biography of Evans Carlson, who a lot of people consider the first “Special Forces” commander in US history. I’m a big history guy.

What is the one sport you cannot watch on TV?

Believe it or not, I would say college basketball if it’s not Kentucky playing.

If you could pick another time period to live in, when would it be, along with the reason?

The frontier era of Daniel Boone and James Harrod settling Kentucky has always fascinated me. I’d like to have known what it was like to see Kentucky before it was settled.