Back at Home, Middleton Ready to Work
Mar 01, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Time continues to tick until Matthew Middleton gets to see his Kansas State wide receivers in action.
Middleton, hired as K-State wide receivers coach on February 16, comes to Manhattan with 15 years of coaching experience, and the native of Kansas City, Kansas and graduate of Bonner Springs High School officially begins to live out his dream of being a Power 5 position coach as the Wildcats embark upon spring football on March 7.
Middleton comes to K-State after serving the previous five years as wide receivers coach at Kent State. He played football at Ottawa University and upon graduation immediately coached the Braves' wide receivers for one season.
He arrived at Kent State after serving as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at South Dakota the previous three seasons.
Middleton sat down with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen for this Q&A:
D. Scott Fritchen: Can you tell us a little bit about your family?
Matthew Middleton: My wife Jenna is in education. She's an instructional director/coach/coordinator and she's implementing a program into public schools in Ohio. She's been in education for 16 years. My oldest son, Evan, he's a freshman right now. He plays all kind of sports. He does really good in the classroom. Then there's Elijah who's 8 and in the second grade. He's active in athletics. Then Bria is our kindergartener and she's in dance and gymnastics and soccer. The baby is Cora, she's 3 years old. We also have a dog Zoey.
I'm from Kansas City, so we've visited Kansas City and have spent time there. My brother lives in Kansas City, Missouri. My father works at Nebraska Furniture Mart. I grew up like five minutes from Nebraska Furniture Mart. My family has been in Kansas. They just haven't been out to Manhattan before. My sister went to K-State for a semester, and I have a cousin who just graduated from here who's still around right now.
Fritchen: Was football your first love?
Middleton: Football and wrestling. It's like they're both one in the same. I'd always watch football and I probably could've played football year around. I always watched college or pro. Wrestling was in my family. My dad was a two-time grand state champion, and I had an uncle who was a finalist. Wrestling was a part of the family, so I wrestled as well. But if there was something football related, I wanted to be involved with that in some form. You can easily say football was my first love because of how much I watched it or did something with it. I don't remember the first time I picked up a football. I just always enjoyed it. They put me on a flag football team in Kansas City when I was 5 or 6. We were one of the best teams. I think I fell in love with it from there and then growing up watching the Chiefs.
Fritchen: What have the past few weeks been like for you?
Middleton: It's been hectic but a blessing. Just getting the call to get back home to the state of Kansas, it didn't really hit me until I'd accepted the job, because I was making sure my wife and I were making the right decision with our four kids. Then getting here, and learning about it from Coach Chris Klieman, and meeting the offensive staff and the players, it made us feel like it was the right decision. I had a relationship with Coach Conor Riley and I'd worked with him at Omaha. Just knowing there was an open opportunity, I wanted to explore it. I was extremely excited. For me, it's always been a goal of mine to be a Power 5 position coach, and not only did the opportunity come, but it's at home, too, so it's extremely unique and special all at the same time. I grew up in Kansas, played ball at Ottawa, got my first coaching opportunity in Kansas, and here it is, I've achieved a goal 16 years later, and the special part of it is every day I have the opportunity to show that I belong. It's pretty unique.
Fritchen: What's that energy like being a part of the Big 12 Champions?
Middleton: It's awesome. It doesn't mean you change who you are, so to speak, but it does elevate you to make sure that you remain on your best and don't get complacent. You don't want to cheat the program. You want to add value to it and help do something that hasn't been done here, and that's being back-to-back Big 12 Champs. I have to earn my right to earn a ring as well for the team. It's just about being consistent as a person and as a coach, and growing with the players and the program, to make sure we achieve the ultimate team goal.
Fritchen: You've been able to achieve some very fine things with some wide receivers over the years. What are the ingredients of a fine wide receiver?
Middleton: First of all, it's being coachable. All of the good ones are coachable because they get the information and learn what's going on and then they learn how to execute it at a high level. The other thing is their heart. That's one thing you can't measure. As you're recruiting and learning about people, and as they're in college learning about themselves, that's where the next part comes, because they're not shying away from any challenges thrown at them. Then there's the genetic gifts they've been blessed with that obviously help them. Everybody knows a bunch of talented athletes who've been genetically gifted but weren't coachable or couldn't handle any adversity or challenges.
Fritchen: As a coach how do you pull potential out of a player?
Middleton: That just comes down to trust. You have to be honest with them. You have to establish trust and continue to prove that you always have their best interest at heart, so that's serving them in any way possible. You're vulnerable as a person to them so they know it's not always business. I want them to know I have their back and I'll talk to them about whatever. They have to know I'm always there for them. It's about being extremely transparent to them so they know there's no phoniness as far as being a coach or a person.
Fritchen: What do you like best about this position group here?
Middleton: They're all great young men and all hungry to get better and to win and compete. It seems like a great group already as far as their level of focus and what we need to do as a team to achieve team goals. There's a lot to be excited about because they're really good athletes with good movement skills and guys that have really good football IQs. I'm extremely excited about everyone in the room to develop. Some experience has left the room and some production, so all of them see that as it's their opportunity. They've seen other young men have success in this system and they're very grateful for them, but they're hungry themselves to show that it's their turn and they can take the next step in their journey as a Wildcat.
Fritchen: This is a K-State offense that had one of the top-10 performances in school history in 2022. What do you like most about Collin Klein's offense? What kind of chemistry is there in the offensive staff room?
Middleton: (Klein) has a great offensive mind. He doesn't put the system in a box and doesn't label it. He just does a really good job of collaborating with the offensive staff and everyone working together. That's why it works so well. It works so well because he's not just set in a certain way. There's a lot of ways to do a lot of different things in this system. The energy is really good. The coaches are really smart. They're all really good coaches. They do a great job of bouncing ideas off each other and they listen to each other. Everyone values everyone's opinion and then they work together for the best solution possible. That's what it's about. There are no big egos in the room.
Fritchen: When was the first time you met Conor Riley?
Middleton: The first time I met Coach Riley, he actually took care of me. I was a graduate assistant (at Omaha), and I lived with him at the time, and he basically took me under his wing, and made sure I was doing things right, especially my very first day. He gave me the scoop on what I needed to do. He taught me to be a professional, which is really awesome. I talk to him about that to this day because it's one of the things that's always stood out to be about him.
Fritchen: Before any of this, you set the all-time receiving record at Ottawa with 159 receptions. How would you describe your playing style as a wide receiver?
Middleton: I was average. I worked really hard and just tried to be the best teammate and grow as a receiver. That was my playing style. I just played hard and had fun playing.
Fritchen: How do you feel like the wide receiver position has evolved over the years?
Middleton: Athletes nowadays are bigger, stronger and faster all the way around. The game has changed a little bit, too. The all-time greats are still the all-time greats because of how they played the game. They have those genetic gifts. I wouldn't say it's changed too much but there are guys like Larry Fitzgerald, if he was in his prime right now, he could still do it. He could still play in this day in age.
Fritchen: You served as recruiting coordinator at South Dakota. What makes recruiting a passion of yours?
Middleton: I was honored for that opportunity. I was a young coach and didn't know a ton, so I relied on the staff that I was around and had the professional development of learning from other programs from a larger scale and how to use it at our level at the time. I've taken that everywhere I've been to continue to learn and grow and find different ways to make my place better as a recruiter and in how we do things and in how I become better as a recruiter or evaluator. I've been at places where you have to do a great job of evaluating and learning who you're bringing to your program. It taught me a lot and I continue to learn today. I'm always interested in learning how things work and how players are identified and evaluated and how they go through the evaluation process.
Fritchen: What recruiting areas do you enjoy the most?
Middleton: Obviously, recruiting the state of Kansas is pretty cool, and not only because I've done it before, but because you know there's talent here. I have a lot of good friends who went the junior college route and developed into really good players. There are really good players coming out of high school and can develop. In Kansas there is no spring ball, so you're finding those multi-sport athletes that do a lot of different things and have a variety of different skillsets. There are some really good players in the state of Kansas that go to K-State. I've gotten in my car and have driven so much, it's like, let's go, and whatever I need to do, I'll do it. It doesn't really matter.
Fritchen: What are the traits you most observe when evaluating a wide receiver?
Middleton: Speed is always at a premium. It's one thing you can't coach. But also, I look at their hips, their change of direction, how well they move, and then ball skills. Ball skills are nice to have. You don't always have to have great ball skills because you can teach people ball skills. The top two things are their change of direction and their speed. You have to be able to separate. Sometimes some of the slower guys are able to separate at the top of their route because they have really good body control and drop their hips and get to where they need to be at the top of their route. It's always nice to have a really fast guy, but when you're evaluating and developing guys and their maximum speed and how fast they can get to their top-end speed and change direction to win at the top of the route, that's big.
Fritchen: How excited are you for your first spring football at K-State?
Middleton: I'm extremely excited. It's a chance for the young men to show who they are and it's a chance for me to help develop them and reach their goals. That's the biggest excitement. There are a lot of new faces and guys eager to prove themselves to the team, and I have the opportunity to help them get to their destination.
Fritchen: What will it be like jogging onto the field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on September 2?
Middleton: It'll be my third time. I'll be in purple now. When I was at South Dakota, we came here and were blown out in 2015, and I was graduate assistant (at Kansas) in 2012. This will be a better feeling. I'm really excited.
Time continues to tick until Matthew Middleton gets to see his Kansas State wide receivers in action.
Middleton, hired as K-State wide receivers coach on February 16, comes to Manhattan with 15 years of coaching experience, and the native of Kansas City, Kansas and graduate of Bonner Springs High School officially begins to live out his dream of being a Power 5 position coach as the Wildcats embark upon spring football on March 7.
Middleton comes to K-State after serving the previous five years as wide receivers coach at Kent State. He played football at Ottawa University and upon graduation immediately coached the Braves' wide receivers for one season.
He arrived at Kent State after serving as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at South Dakota the previous three seasons.
Middleton sat down with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen for this Q&A:
D. Scott Fritchen: Can you tell us a little bit about your family?
Matthew Middleton: My wife Jenna is in education. She's an instructional director/coach/coordinator and she's implementing a program into public schools in Ohio. She's been in education for 16 years. My oldest son, Evan, he's a freshman right now. He plays all kind of sports. He does really good in the classroom. Then there's Elijah who's 8 and in the second grade. He's active in athletics. Then Bria is our kindergartener and she's in dance and gymnastics and soccer. The baby is Cora, she's 3 years old. We also have a dog Zoey.
I'm from Kansas City, so we've visited Kansas City and have spent time there. My brother lives in Kansas City, Missouri. My father works at Nebraska Furniture Mart. I grew up like five minutes from Nebraska Furniture Mart. My family has been in Kansas. They just haven't been out to Manhattan before. My sister went to K-State for a semester, and I have a cousin who just graduated from here who's still around right now.
Fritchen: Was football your first love?
Middleton: Football and wrestling. It's like they're both one in the same. I'd always watch football and I probably could've played football year around. I always watched college or pro. Wrestling was in my family. My dad was a two-time grand state champion, and I had an uncle who was a finalist. Wrestling was a part of the family, so I wrestled as well. But if there was something football related, I wanted to be involved with that in some form. You can easily say football was my first love because of how much I watched it or did something with it. I don't remember the first time I picked up a football. I just always enjoyed it. They put me on a flag football team in Kansas City when I was 5 or 6. We were one of the best teams. I think I fell in love with it from there and then growing up watching the Chiefs.
Fritchen: What have the past few weeks been like for you?
Middleton: It's been hectic but a blessing. Just getting the call to get back home to the state of Kansas, it didn't really hit me until I'd accepted the job, because I was making sure my wife and I were making the right decision with our four kids. Then getting here, and learning about it from Coach Chris Klieman, and meeting the offensive staff and the players, it made us feel like it was the right decision. I had a relationship with Coach Conor Riley and I'd worked with him at Omaha. Just knowing there was an open opportunity, I wanted to explore it. I was extremely excited. For me, it's always been a goal of mine to be a Power 5 position coach, and not only did the opportunity come, but it's at home, too, so it's extremely unique and special all at the same time. I grew up in Kansas, played ball at Ottawa, got my first coaching opportunity in Kansas, and here it is, I've achieved a goal 16 years later, and the special part of it is every day I have the opportunity to show that I belong. It's pretty unique.
Fritchen: What's that energy like being a part of the Big 12 Champions?
Middleton: It's awesome. It doesn't mean you change who you are, so to speak, but it does elevate you to make sure that you remain on your best and don't get complacent. You don't want to cheat the program. You want to add value to it and help do something that hasn't been done here, and that's being back-to-back Big 12 Champs. I have to earn my right to earn a ring as well for the team. It's just about being consistent as a person and as a coach, and growing with the players and the program, to make sure we achieve the ultimate team goal.
Fritchen: You've been able to achieve some very fine things with some wide receivers over the years. What are the ingredients of a fine wide receiver?
Middleton: First of all, it's being coachable. All of the good ones are coachable because they get the information and learn what's going on and then they learn how to execute it at a high level. The other thing is their heart. That's one thing you can't measure. As you're recruiting and learning about people, and as they're in college learning about themselves, that's where the next part comes, because they're not shying away from any challenges thrown at them. Then there's the genetic gifts they've been blessed with that obviously help them. Everybody knows a bunch of talented athletes who've been genetically gifted but weren't coachable or couldn't handle any adversity or challenges.
Fritchen: As a coach how do you pull potential out of a player?
Middleton: That just comes down to trust. You have to be honest with them. You have to establish trust and continue to prove that you always have their best interest at heart, so that's serving them in any way possible. You're vulnerable as a person to them so they know it's not always business. I want them to know I have their back and I'll talk to them about whatever. They have to know I'm always there for them. It's about being extremely transparent to them so they know there's no phoniness as far as being a coach or a person.
Fritchen: What do you like best about this position group here?
Middleton: They're all great young men and all hungry to get better and to win and compete. It seems like a great group already as far as their level of focus and what we need to do as a team to achieve team goals. There's a lot to be excited about because they're really good athletes with good movement skills and guys that have really good football IQs. I'm extremely excited about everyone in the room to develop. Some experience has left the room and some production, so all of them see that as it's their opportunity. They've seen other young men have success in this system and they're very grateful for them, but they're hungry themselves to show that it's their turn and they can take the next step in their journey as a Wildcat.
Fritchen: This is a K-State offense that had one of the top-10 performances in school history in 2022. What do you like most about Collin Klein's offense? What kind of chemistry is there in the offensive staff room?
Middleton: (Klein) has a great offensive mind. He doesn't put the system in a box and doesn't label it. He just does a really good job of collaborating with the offensive staff and everyone working together. That's why it works so well. It works so well because he's not just set in a certain way. There's a lot of ways to do a lot of different things in this system. The energy is really good. The coaches are really smart. They're all really good coaches. They do a great job of bouncing ideas off each other and they listen to each other. Everyone values everyone's opinion and then they work together for the best solution possible. That's what it's about. There are no big egos in the room.
Fritchen: When was the first time you met Conor Riley?
Middleton: The first time I met Coach Riley, he actually took care of me. I was a graduate assistant (at Omaha), and I lived with him at the time, and he basically took me under his wing, and made sure I was doing things right, especially my very first day. He gave me the scoop on what I needed to do. He taught me to be a professional, which is really awesome. I talk to him about that to this day because it's one of the things that's always stood out to be about him.
Fritchen: Before any of this, you set the all-time receiving record at Ottawa with 159 receptions. How would you describe your playing style as a wide receiver?
Middleton: I was average. I worked really hard and just tried to be the best teammate and grow as a receiver. That was my playing style. I just played hard and had fun playing.
Fritchen: How do you feel like the wide receiver position has evolved over the years?
Middleton: Athletes nowadays are bigger, stronger and faster all the way around. The game has changed a little bit, too. The all-time greats are still the all-time greats because of how they played the game. They have those genetic gifts. I wouldn't say it's changed too much but there are guys like Larry Fitzgerald, if he was in his prime right now, he could still do it. He could still play in this day in age.
Fritchen: You served as recruiting coordinator at South Dakota. What makes recruiting a passion of yours?
Middleton: I was honored for that opportunity. I was a young coach and didn't know a ton, so I relied on the staff that I was around and had the professional development of learning from other programs from a larger scale and how to use it at our level at the time. I've taken that everywhere I've been to continue to learn and grow and find different ways to make my place better as a recruiter and in how we do things and in how I become better as a recruiter or evaluator. I've been at places where you have to do a great job of evaluating and learning who you're bringing to your program. It taught me a lot and I continue to learn today. I'm always interested in learning how things work and how players are identified and evaluated and how they go through the evaluation process.
Fritchen: What recruiting areas do you enjoy the most?
Middleton: Obviously, recruiting the state of Kansas is pretty cool, and not only because I've done it before, but because you know there's talent here. I have a lot of good friends who went the junior college route and developed into really good players. There are really good players coming out of high school and can develop. In Kansas there is no spring ball, so you're finding those multi-sport athletes that do a lot of different things and have a variety of different skillsets. There are some really good players in the state of Kansas that go to K-State. I've gotten in my car and have driven so much, it's like, let's go, and whatever I need to do, I'll do it. It doesn't really matter.
Fritchen: What are the traits you most observe when evaluating a wide receiver?
Middleton: Speed is always at a premium. It's one thing you can't coach. But also, I look at their hips, their change of direction, how well they move, and then ball skills. Ball skills are nice to have. You don't always have to have great ball skills because you can teach people ball skills. The top two things are their change of direction and their speed. You have to be able to separate. Sometimes some of the slower guys are able to separate at the top of their route because they have really good body control and drop their hips and get to where they need to be at the top of their route. It's always nice to have a really fast guy, but when you're evaluating and developing guys and their maximum speed and how fast they can get to their top-end speed and change direction to win at the top of the route, that's big.
Fritchen: How excited are you for your first spring football at K-State?
Middleton: I'm extremely excited. It's a chance for the young men to show who they are and it's a chance for me to help develop them and reach their goals. That's the biggest excitement. There are a lot of new faces and guys eager to prove themselves to the team, and I have the opportunity to help them get to their destination.
Fritchen: What will it be like jogging onto the field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on September 2?
Middleton: It'll be my third time. I'll be in purple now. When I was at South Dakota, we came here and were blown out in 2015, and I was graduate assistant (at Kansas) in 2012. This will be a better feeling. I'm really excited.
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