Gerald Mattinson has taught, coached, administered and impacted young men and women for over four decades.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

Along with his boyhood friend Joe Legerski, he has taken Cowgirl basketball to unprecedented heights.

He opens his second season as head coach of the program Saturday when his Cowgirls host the University of Denver in the Double A.  The game is set to tip at 2 p.m.

"I've always enjoyed being around young people," Gerald told me the other day while taking a break from the busy life that is coaching.

"They've kept me young.  Age and my body keep telling me I'm not young, but their positive attitudes and engaging personalities light up my life.  I look forward to being around them every day.  I know a lot of people who don't have young people in their lives.  They're missing an enriching experience.  They're out of the loop.

"I laugh with them, and try to help when their hurting.  The other day we told them we were going to watch film.  We had put together a one-to-three-minute clip from each of their families when they were expecting basketball.  It was so much fun.  I wouldn't miss that interaction for the world."

I had the pleasure of watching Gerald play basketball when he starred at Weber State.   I loved the way he played, because he played as hard as he could for as long as he could.  He was part of one of the most successful eras in Wildcat hoop history.

He actually began his collegiate career majoring in accounting.  "My sophomore year I got into intermediate accounting and said, 'it's not for me'.  So I got an education degree.  Through it all I always had coaching in the back of my mind."

He taught math and then business at Rock Springs High School from 1982 through 1987.  He coached at the junior college level before becoming an administrator, and then a collegiate coach.

He and Legerski became close friends through Joe's younger brother Bob.  "Joe was two years ahead of Bob and I.  We all were from Superior (shall we say a suburb of Rock Springs), and were together since we were little kids.  We had a great time growing up.  We played all the sports and Joe was the guy we looked up to."

One especially busy administrative day Joe was passing through and dropped by to see his old friend.  "It was one of those days when I had five or six kids in the office, a couple of teachers, and probably a parent or two waiting to talk to me.  Joe said he would catch me later, but I made time for him.  He couldn't have come on a better day, and he asked me to come with him to coach the Cowgirls.

"I was excited but at the same time, It was a tough decision.  My wife, Carey, and I had just bought a house, a house she loved by the way.  But she said if that's what I wanted to do, let's do it, and we came to UW. Fortunately that's how she's been throughout my career, just so supportive.  We had a great career in Rock Springs and will always be indebted to that community.   But we headed to Laramie."

That was the 2002-03 season, and he's still here loving what he does.

He and Joe are still closest of friends.  I think it's rare, and quite remarkable that the two remain as close as they are after working together for all those years.

"I think the key was we both had a very good idea of where business ended and personal started.  It's a crazy business, and a lot of things happen.  But we always were able to speak our minds to one another. We've always been honest with each.  Heck, we had our heated arguments, but we were able to leave that in the office.  We have always been able to separate work from our personal relationship."

While he loves what he does, Mattinson does not minimize the challenges involved.

"For me, the toughest part of coaching is that not everyone gets to play as much as they would like to.  Not everyone can be the star, even though all kids dream of that.  It's a learning and growing process.  It's a hard lesson for a young person to understand that the decisions a coach is making are not personal what's best for the team.

"The biggest challenge, and this hasn't changed since I began coaching, is to get the kids to understand what roles are out there, and what roles best fit them within the context of the team.  When they understand that, they can be successful.

"I had to do that throughout my playing career.  That's hard, and those roles can change as the team changes from year to year.  We all want to score, but there are a lot of roles that may not include scoring.  During my career I was a scorer at times, but I also had to fill the role of doing the dirty work, taking charges, and getting tough rebounds.

"You've got to look at yourself and see how you fit, and what you can do best to help the team win."

The transition from coaching men to women was harder than Gerald first thought it would be.  "They each present different opportunities for a coach," he says.  "Take the 'pick and roll' option for example.  There's a dunk option at the end of it for the men, not so for the women.

"But really the biggest adjustment I had to make involved zone defense.  Women shoot the ball better than men, and make it tougher on playing zone.  On the defensive side of it, women can't cover the court like the men.  There aren't any long, 6-9 wing players who can cover more court on the women's side.  We will have a 5-10 wing player more often than not.

"But I really like the women's game because it involves more 'old school' basketball.  They pass and screen away and share the basketball.  It's more pass, screen, slash and play defense.  I enjoy teaching defense, I like the strategy involved."

Was there any question that he wanted the head job when Legerski left?  "I was excited for the opportunity to be the head coach here.  This is a heck of a job.  But I felt three years was the right amount of time for me and for me to lead the program.  We have good kids, and we have recruited good kids coming in.  I wanted to have things in place for someone, hopefully within the staff, to carry on when I'm gone.  I have a heck of a staff." 

That staff includes Associate Head Coach Heather Ezell, and assistant coaches Fallon Lewis and Ryan Larsen, and Director of Operations Mattison (Matti) Maisel.

Mattinson is extremely proud of the academic track record of the Cowgirl program.  "As a teacher and an administrator, I understand how important getting your education is.  I tell the kids all the time that they must understand basketball will end for them, no matter how far they go.  They must set themselves up for life with something they like to do and are good at.  Academics is at a high level here.  The state should be proud of this university.

"We are also very fortunate, have a great support system here.  Al (Assistant AD for Academics, Riser) and his staff do a terrific job.  We meet with Al every week.  Also Matti on our staff talks to our kids on a daily basis.  Everyone knows they have to work at it, but the support is there if they need it."

With the season-opener coming up Saturday, Mattison is pleased with his team.  He does admit, however, that like everyone else in the country, he's not sure exactly where his team is right now. "We've had to deal with the virus, and we've been paused.  Honestly we have only had four practices with everyone on the floor, so we're not in as good a playing shape as we would like to be.  I like the mix of veterans and new players, though, and I feel good about these kids.  The Denver game will be a good barometer for us."

I know this, Gerald and his staff will have the Cowgirls ready to play when Saturday comes.