Matthew smiley football coach
Football coach responsibilities!
Smiley carries Air Force background into coaching
The military and football have always been linked to Matthew Smiley.
"My dad was in the Air Force active duty and then Air Force active reserves," Smiley said. "Retired as a Colonel.
Flew jets his whole career.
Matthew smiley football coach
Not something that he pushed me into, but I was definitely aware that that was out there and that was a way to help pay for school. I was a walk-on at the University of Illinois. The football team wasn't giving me any money.
One of the rules at my house growing up was you have to figure out how to pay for your own school. So I did ROTC at the University of Illinois to help pay for school and then with that scholarship had to do four years afterwards."
Smiley was an Air Force maintenance officer, beginning his post graduate duty just months before the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001.
He was deployed on four separate occasions, each lasting about six months long