West Meck promotes offensive coordinator to head football coach
New West Mecklenburg High football coach Nick Mata, 29, said he’ll be the youngest head coach in Mecklenburg County, but he said he’s confident he can keep the Hawks’ program moving forward.
Mata replaces Jarvis Davis, who coached the Hawks for three seasons and went 26-11, one of the best stretches in school history. Davis resigned earlier this year to pursue coaching opportunities in South Carolina.
“This is everybody’s dream, right here, as a young coach,” Mata said Tuesday afternoon. “I couldn’t have done this without (athletics director Vernon) Hunter and principal (Casey) Jones. They believed in me and I’ve seen them, step by step, with coach Davis. I know they’re good people and will guide me in the right direction and keep building me up as a young coach.”
Mata, who is single, played high school football at West Charlotte and Olympic. He graduated from Olympic in 2008. He said he played in college, and later coached, at Johnson C. Smith. He’s been an assistant coach and offensive coordinator at West Mecklenburg for the past three seasons.
Mata was part of a staff last season that led the Hawks to a 9-3 record as well as West Meck’s first conference title in 30 years. The Hawks also advanced to the third round of the playoffs for the first time in school history.
Mata said 14 starters return from that team, including four offensive lineman and three linebackers.
“Our young guys will be rising juniors and ready to go,” he said. “This would be the first full class (of seniors) since we took over. They did pretty well on (junior varsity) as we built this group up.”
Mata said he’s hired former Harrisburg Hickory Ridge assistant Darius Robinson as his defensive coordinator, and the plan is, as he put it, “to keep the train running.”
“There’s not too much to switch up,” he said. “Coach Davis put a fine imprint on the program and we’re just building on top of what we’ve already built together.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 5:08 PM.
