Matt's Biography

Born: February 12, 1975 in Piqua, Ohio

Attended Piqua High School and played Varsity Football in 1990-1992 at Running Back and Defense Line.   First Team All Ohio, Blue Chip All American, Most Valuable Defensive Lineman Southwest District, Ohio North South All-Star  MVP.  Wrestling  1990-1993. ‘91 Placed 6th at 189 LBS.  ‘92-  Placed 3rd Division 1 Heavy Weight.  ‘93- Placed 1st Division 1 Heavy Weight.   ‘93 Junior World Team.  Track- ‘93 4th Place 110 High Hurdles,  6th Place Shot Put at the Ohio Division 1 State Meet.

Attended The Ohio State University  1993-1996 Football at Defensive Line. 93 Second team All American. 94 1st Team All Big Ten and 3rd Team All American, Defensive MVP Florida Citrus Bowl,  Co Most Valuable Defensive Lineman.   95 1st Team All Big Ten, 1st Team All American, Defensive, MVP Florida MVP Citrus Bowl, 96 1st Team All Big Ten and 2nd Team All American, Bill Willis Award Winner  and Most Valuable Defensive Player Award, 2nd Career Tackled for Loss, 2nd Career for Sacks,  2nd in Sacks in Season, 2nd in Tackles for Loss in a Season, MVP East West Shrine Game.

Drafted 5th Round by the North Carolina Panthers in 1997. Traded to the New York Jets.  Played 1997-1999 with the New York Jets.  1999-2000 with the Washington Redskins.  Finished NFL career with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2001.  Played 1999-2000 for Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe.  2001 Played in the XFL for the Chicago Enforcers.

In 2003 and 2004 was Defensive Coordinator and Line Backers Coach at Neece High School in Jacksonville, Florida.  At Neese two of his Linebackers went on to play Division 1 in the SEC.  In 2005-2008 was Assistant Coach(Defensive Line and Running Backs) at Piqua High School. 

Along with winning the Division II State championship in 2007, while at Piqua, 7 of Matt’s players went on to earn Div. 1 scholarships. 2009 Assistant coach(Defensive Line)  at Graham High School (3 of 4 Defensive Linemen were named first team All-CBC and 2 were named Div. 3 All-State. 

Currently the Defensive Line Coach Hilliard Darby High School.  Along with player who received personal instruction in the off season, Matt has mentored 17 athletes who received Div. 1 scholarships and many others who have continued to play at other levels.  Also a wrestling coach at St. Paris Graham High School from 2008 to the present, Matt has worked with countless state champions and has been a part of three State Champion Teams and two National Champion teams.

After retiring from active playing, Matt returned to Piqua, Ohio and successfully took the reins of Finkes Building Co., a commercial construction company still operating in southwest Ohio.  In addition to his business ventures, Matt has been extremely active in fund raising for local and national charities.  Raising funds for the Stefanie Speilman Research Fund at The James Cancer Institute and the Friends of Firefighters organization has been a passion of Matt’s for the past few years.  He also sits on the board and has spearheaded the efforts to turn a local Ohio State tradition, The Gold Pants Club, into a charitable organization.

Contact Matt for more information.