Purdue offensive line coach Matt Mattox is well-traveled in his 18-year collegiate coaching career, but he embarks on a new chapter heading into 2023. It has been a long road to West Lafayette, but Mattox joined Ryan Walters' staff with the Boilermakers, and he couldn't be more excited.

"I thought I was probably going to be a high school teacher and coach, and that was going to be my deal in northeast Kansas, and I'd call it a day once we're done with that, but I'm excited about how my journey has been," Mattox said.

Mattox has coached in the Big 12, AAC, Conference USA, MAC, FCS, and even the junior college level during his career, but now starts his work in the Big Ten. He recognizes the significance of the move, knowing the history and tradition of offensive line play in the conference.

"I'm fired up. This is where big men come that want to take it to the next level. You want to come play in this conference, and I know that the NFL is looking at that. So I'm excited about being able to hopefully get guys in here that we can continue to pump out and put out there and get into the next level," Mattox said.

Mattox is no stranger to coaching NFL talent. Just last year, he helped UTSA offensive lineman Spencer Burford get selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round. He also coached Conor Williams at Texas, who was picked in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys.

The former Houston Cougars tight end and offensive tackle has deep ties to the state of Texas, spending time on staff at Texas, Houston, and Tulsa, amongst other stops. He joins forces with another coach that has spent his fair share of time in The Lone Star State. Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell will call the offense, and Mattox is excited see how the Boilermakers attack plays out on Saturdays in the fall.

"I'm excited about that opportunity. He's always had great quarterbacks, personnel, great skill [players], and big running backs that can go downhill. So when you have dynamic threats all over the place, it just makes the defenses have to defend the whole field, so it's exciting," Mattox said.

Mattox comes from UTSA, where head coach Jeff Traylor utilized an uptempo offense for the Road Runners. Last season in San Antonio, UTSA was 11th in the country in plays per game, with 77.4, while scoring 35.6 points per game, good for 16th in college football.

"I think the great thing is he wants to play with tempo, and so I'm used to doing that right now and coming from that world, and so we're all on the same page," Mattox said. Similar to the teachings of Harrell's Air Raid offense, Mattox wants to make things as simple as possible for his offensive linemen, allowing them to play free and make plays.

"Schematically, we try to keep things very simple and limited as far as you know, not getting over communication and too many things where they're not able to go out and be physical and come off the ball," Mattox said. "If you have a fast receiver or a big physical lineman and you're doing too much to where they have to slow down and think, or they aren't just 100% sure, to allow their physical ability to take over, then that's when you start having problems."