Chris Mattioni: 25 years as Cape wrestling coach
Chris Mattioni rolled off Route 1 and Kings Highway into a job interview at Cape Henlopen in the summer of 1995, securing a social studies position sweetened by being named head coach of the wrestling team. Mattioni had wrestled at Valley Forge Military Academy and The Citadel, then spent two years coaching at Stanford High School in Goose Creek, S.C. He is not a stiff and buttoned-up personality who prefers to be called sir, but more the gracious, loquacious and affable teacher-coach type guy.
A youthful-looking person with a spry step and easygoing manner, Mattioni, 49, is now a guidance counselor who still looks like he should carry a hall pass after 25 years on the job. He dresses out for practice to offer instruction, and rolls around with his grapplers who are near his weight class.
Coach Chris was a social studies teacher for 11 years, with the last 14 as a high school guidance counselor.
Last season, Cape had seven state qualifiers, including state champion Andre Currie at 170 pounds. Luke Bender (132), Mikey Frederick (145) and Finbar Rishko (152), all wrestling at the same time on three different mats, all won third-place bouts. Also placing for the Vikings were C.J. Fritchman (126) in sixth, Carson Kammerer (138) in sixth and Lucas Ruppert (285) in fifth.
Cape has also qualified for the state dual-meet tournament six of the last seven years.
In Mattioni’s first season (1995-96), the team was 9-5.
“I’ve had six losing seasons, and four of them were in my first seven years,” Mattioni said.
Coach’s career record is 218-130-2. Cape has 20 state champions in its history, with Mattioni having coached seven to 11 state titles. Matt Graviet was Mattioni’s first champion in 1999. Thomas Ott won three (2012, 2013, 2014), while Corey Lawson (2016, 2017) and Anthony Caruso (2016, 2019) each won two. Other state champions include Brian Riggin (2006), Aaron Mattioni (2014) and Andre Currie (2020).
Mattioni has also coached 21 of Cape’s 41 Henlopen Conference champions.
He has had 89 state placers during his 25-year career.
“Another accomplishment I’m proud of is that four of my five assistants in 2020-21 are Cape grads who wrestled for me, including Shane Jensen, Ian Eckrote, Matt Graviet and Garrett Smith,” he said.
Cape state champions besides those listed above are Willie Vann (123) in 1973, Tyrone Gibbs (185) in 1975 and 1976, Randy Johnson (138) in 1977, Perry Walls (105) in 1978, Charles Turner (167) in 1980, Jon Lobiondo (171, 189) in 1989 and 1990, and Jerad Hill (125) in 1991.
Coach was asked if he thinks kids have changed much over the last 25 years.
“I don’t think kids have changed as much as people think. Society has changed; parents have changed, but teenagers are a result of their environment. Kids have a lot more options today than ever before – they can play video games on demand and of the best quality. When I was a kid, you had to go to an arcade to play the best video games. Atari and Pong didn’t keep your attention for hours. Parents imposed limits. You had one TV in your house. Now almost every kid has a phone, and we give all the kids an iPad. There are a lot of ways kids can spend their time. Wrestling and sports are tough. It makes kids work.
“Nowadays parents put their kids in organized activities at very young ages – kids aren’t going out and playing pickup games. Kids learned so many skills when they played in their neighborhoods – conflict resolution, time management, socializing, learning how to get along with others, problem solving. When kids are in organized activities, they lose those skills; the adult is making all the decisions. Kids also specialize in sports at younger and younger ages. They can play just about any sport year-round. I like that most of our wrestlers are two-sport athletes, and a few are three-sport athletes.
“When I started coaching at Cape, we had success my first two years, but the next four of five years we had losing records. At that time, I dropped our intensity to try to get more kids out for the team; that didn't work. The kids then were not prepared. So over time I have learned to balance the intensity while also adding games to make it fun. So I do not think wrestlers have changed much in 25 years; they are still among the hardest workers in the school.”
No middle school sports this winter hurts all varsity programs, and the wrestling room is only allowed 20 people at a time. Coaches are making adjustments, and the kids keep coming.
Cape has hosted the state tournament for eight years – every year since 2012, except 2017 when it was at Dover.
“We have had a finalist every year since 2012 and a champion every year since 2015,” Mattioni said.
