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Contact information: jmattos@lamar.colostate.edu; 970/491-6026 Coach Mattos at a glance...
John Mattos has proven through the years that Colorado State's swimming and diving program is among the best in the nation. Heading into his 29th year as head coach at Colorado State University, Mattos looks to piece together another winning season for the Rams. Since Mattos started coaching CSU in 1980, his athletes have set 102 school records. He has coached 13 All-Americans, eight honorable mention All-Americans and eight academic All-Americans, and has taken 65 student-athletes to the NCAA championships. Mattos has 200 career dual-meet wins, more than any other coach in school history. He has guided the Rams to 23 individual titles, two regional titles and six conference championships, the last one a WAC championship in 1996. His past athletic and coaching accomplishments in Fort Collins led him to being selected to the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame in November of 2005. The success Mattos has had at Colorado State has earned him national recognition as well. He was named the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 1994 after he led his team to a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Division I Championships. Mattos has also earned international acclaim. He was an assistant coach for the U.S. World Championship team that competed in Rome in 1994. Two years later he was the head coach of the National Junior Elite Training Camp team for Olympic development. In 2004 he was selected to the short course U.S. World Championship coaching staff that competed at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. It was the first swimming event to ever be held in portable pools in a 20,000-seat venue. There were over 18,000 on hand to watch Saturday nights finals. Mattos has also done many USA Swimming-sponsored Swimposiums to educate coaches nationally. Every summer since 1978, Mattos has run his Rocky Mountain Swim Camps at Colorado State University. The camps are kept small to give each young swimmer the stroke knowledge and mental motivation to help them further advance their athletic potential. In 1996, he had the opportunity to watch one of his former All-Americans compete at the Olympics. Amy Van Dyken became the first female swimmer in history to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. Van Dyken returned to Fort Collins to train under Mattos and he was her personal coach for the 2000 summer games. Mattos was poolside when Van Dyken returned to the medal stand. All the accomplishments for the Rams under Mattos haven't just been in the pool. His teams consistently perform well in the classroom as he emphasizes the importance of education. Mattos believes that academic success directly correlates to their athletic success. "Every time we have success academically, we have success in the pool," says Mattos. "I think that academics are directly related to performance. I really feel if the kids stay on-line in their classes, it relieves a certain mental stress that frees them to perform better athletically. If it's going well in the classroom, I can almost guarantee that it's going well in the pool." Mattos' experience at Colorado State dates back even further than his 29 years of coaching. He also had a tremendous amount of success as a student-athlete with the Rams. He was a conference champion and an NCAA All-American finalist in both the 100 and 200 Backstroke IM 1969 and 1970. He still holds the school record in the 100 Backstroke (52.72) which he set at the 1970 NCAA championships. Along with wife Connie, Mattos has lived in Fort Collins since 1975. They have a 15-year-old daughter named Marissa Valorie. The family spends most of its free time outdoors, taking advantage of the opportunities in the region. CAREER RECORD
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