Loyola University Chicago Athletics

Matt Gordon, a Chicago native and graduate of St. Rita High School, will enter his tenth season at Loyola University Chicago in 2020-21. He has served as an assistant coach for six seasons, while holding the director of basketball operations role for three years. During his tenure in Rogers Park, the Ramblers have made three postseason appearances, and have put together four straight winning campaigns for the first time since 1981-82 through 1984-85.
 
He has contributed to four straight seasons of 18 or more wins, the first time Loyola has achieved that feat since immediately after World War II and has had his hand in a school-record 40 conference wins over the last three campaigns. With Gordon on staff, Loyola has notched 10 wins over Power 6 foes, including five such victories in the last three seasons alone.
 
In 2019-20, Loyola rolled to a 21-win season and finished just one game out of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, marking the third straight year the Ramblers have placed second or better. Over the last three seasons, Gordon has helped Loyola to 73 victories. 
 
Cameron Krutwig was a First Team All-MVC selection last winter and freshman Marquise Kennedy proved to be an impact freshman, earning MVC Sixth Man of the Year status, while Tate Hall and Lucas Williamson also garnered all-league recognition.
 
Gordon played an integral part in helping Loyola win consecutive regular season conference titles for the first time in program history in 2017-18 and 2018-19, while also reaching the postseason in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 55 years. Over that span, he was also a part of the production back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year award winners in Clayton Custer (2018) and Marques Townes (2019).
 
During the 2018-19 campaign, Loyola notched its second straight 20-win season, capturing a share of the MVC regular season title and earning a bid to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Gordon helped mold Marques Townes and Cameron Krutwig into First Team All-MVC players, giving the Ramblers multiple first team all-conference selections for the first time since 1987.
 
In Loyola’s historic 2017-18 season, Gordon played an instrumental role as Loyola secured the program’s first trip to the NCAA Final Four since 1963. The Ramblers racked up a school-record 32 wins, finishing 32-6, and won the MVC regular season and tournament titles, concluding the year ranked No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
 
Numerous Ramblers were lauded for their outstanding play in 2017-18, with Clayton Custer collecting MVC Player of the Year and Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America recognition, among other accolades. Freshman Cameron Krutwig took home MVC Freshman of the Year accolades, Ben Richardson was hailed as the MVC Defensive Player of the Year and Donte Ingram wrapped up his illustrious career by earning Second Team All-MVC honors, finishing as one of only 11 players in program history to accumulate over 1,200 points and 600 rebounds. 
 
Serving as an assistant coach during the 2016-17 season, Gordon played a key role in Loyola posting 18 wins, recording victories over a Power 5 conference foe (Washington State) as well as perennial Mountain West contender San Diego State. He helped do-everything guard Milton Doyle develop into the first Rambler to earn First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference recognition and Doyle also went on to earn an invitation to the prestigious Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. In addition to Doyle’s haul, Aundre Jackson ranked among the national leaders and set a Loyola single-season record for field goal percentage (.669) en route to MVC Sixth Man of the Year, MVC All-Bench Team and MVC All-Newcomer Team accolades, while Ingram blossomed into a Third Team All-MVC and MVC Most Improved Team honoree.
 
During his other seasons as an assistant coach on Loyola’s staff, Gordon aided in the development of Loyola’s guards as the program transitioned to the MVC. During that time, Doyle earned MVC Newcomer and Freshman of the Year honors, while Devon Turk became the school’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made.
 
Gordon was part of a staff that helped develop forward Ben Averkamp into a two-time Second Team All-Horizon League selection and in 2012-13, Averkamp became the program’s first-ever Capital One Academic All-American when he garnered second team honors. In 2011-12, Walt Gibler was hailed as the male recipient of the Cecil N. Coleman Medal of Honor, the highest award handed out annually by the Horizon League.
 
Off the court, Loyola student-athletes have received acclaim for their many accomplishments in the classroom. Over the last four seasons, seven Ramblers have earned MVC First Team Scholar-Athlete honors, while Clayton Custer was tabbed Google Cloud Third Team Academic All-America in 2019. Loyola has also posted a 99 percent Graduate Success Rate (GSR), a mark that ranked among the top two in the nation for four straight years.
 
Prior to his arrival at Loyola, Gordon worked with current Loyola head coach Porter Moser on legendary coach Rick Majerus' staff as the director of basketball operations at Saint Louis from 2008-11, and during the 2009-10 campaign, the Billikens posted a 23-13 overall mark and reached the championship series of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
 
During the 2007-08 season, Gordon worked for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies as a basketball operations intern, assisting the coaching staff with multiple projects in the video department, including the recording and editing of all games.
After graduating from Illinois State University, Gordon took a position with Full Package Athletics in Lake Forest, Ill., where he was a head coach for AAU teams and conducted daily practices and workouts for those squads. 
 
A 2006 graduate of Illinois State University, Gordon began his basketball career as the head manager for the Redbirds, and worked three seasons there when Moser was the head coach. While at Illinois State, Gordon also served as the team's video coordinator and as a camp counselor. 

Gordon and his wife, Kate, reside in Chicago.