Football
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach (Defensive Backs)
- Phone:
On February 9, 2018, Dan & Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald announced that Matt MacPherson had been promoted to Associate Head Coach in charge of defensive backs.
MacPherson and his secondary provided a spark to the Wildcats' 2019 campaign. The unit ranked in the Top-25 nationally in passing yards allowed and helped the defense rank 25th overall in total defense among FBS programs. Greg Newsome II finished the 2019 season with a team-best 11 pass breakups and ranked 22nd nationally in passes defended per game (1.2).
In his first season on the defensive side of the ball, MacPherson led the Wildcat defensive backs, a group that earned a ranking of 40th in the nation.
Senior cornerback Montre Hartage was 16th in the country with 30 total passes defended, including two interceptions, including one in the Big Ten Championship game. Hartage recorded four pass breakups against Wisconsin, which is the most for any Wildcat since 2000.
Macpherson also helped true sophomore J.R. Pace have a breakout year. Pace earned All-Big Ten honorable mention behind his 82 tackles and tied for team leading 3 interceptions and earned defensive MVP of the Holiday Bowl after an interception and fumble recovery.
A former defensive graduate assistant for Northwestern under Randy Walker, Matt MacPherson is entering his 13th season as a coach under Fitzgerald. He spent 12 seasons as the Wildcats' running backs coach and his five as the program's recruiting coordinator before being promoted to his current position in February of 2019.
As running backs coach, MacPherson has helped tutor three of the most explosive running backs in program history in Justin Jackson, Tyrell Sutton and Venric Mark. Sutton ranks third in program history in career rushing yards, while Mark is fourth in school history in all-purpose yards.
Jackson wrapped up his career in 2017 as the most accomplished running back in Northwestern history, finishing his career with 1,142 carries, 5,440 rushing yards and 41 rushing touchdowns. He ranks first in program history in all three categories. Jackson also etched his name in the Big Ten record books, ranking third all-time in carries as well as third in rushing yards behind only Ron Dayne and Archie Griffin.
Jackson finished the 2017 season with 1,311 total yards, the third most by a Northwestern Wildcat in his senior season. He finished over the century mark in seven games and also threw for his first career passing touchdown during Northwestern’s triple-overtime victory over No. 16 Michigan State. Jackson capped off his career by surpassing 100 yards rushing for the 27th time in his career during the Wildcats’ 24-23 victory over Kentucky in the 2017 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl. Jackson finished with 32 carries for 157 yards and two touchdowns to earn Most Valuable Player honors in Northwestern’s bowl game for the second-straight year.
Jackson burst onto the scene as a true first-year in 2014 and took the Big Ten by storm, rushing for 1,187 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was NU's leading rusher in all 12 games, with six 100-yard rushing performances (all against Big Ten opponents and Notre Dame). He was only the second first-year in program history to notch over 1,000 yards on the ground. His 98.9 yards per game were the fourth-most by a Power-5 conference first-year during the 2014 regular season and were sixth-most overall in the Big Ten.
MacPherson helped Justin Jackson sustain his excellence in 2015 as Jackson rushed for 1,418 yards and became only the fifth player in program history to run for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Jackson had seven games where he rushed for over 100 yards and finished 18th in the country in rushing yards. Warren Long also had a strong season and added five rushing touchdowns of his own.
Jackson had his best season to date in 2016, leading the Big Ten with a career high 1,524 rushing yards and ranking third in the league with a career-high 15 rushing touchdowns. He culminated his junior campaign by earning MVP honors in the Wildcats' victory over No. 23 Pittsburgh in the 2016 New Era Pinstripe Bowl with 32 carries for a career-high 224 yards and three touchdowns. Jackson rushed over 100 yards six times and scored three touchdowns in three different games. He became the first player in program history to rush for 1,000-plus yards in three-consecutive seasons and will enter his senior campaign just 357 yards shy of breaking the Northwestern record for career rushing yards.
MacPherson's first season as the running backs coach also notched him his first 1,000-yard rusher in Tyrell Sutton. Sutton followed his record-breaking first-year campaign with a 5.3 yard per carry average in 2006. He finished with 1,000 yards on 189 attempts and also caught 40 passes (261 yards) out of the backfield.
In 2007, Sutton was named an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by the coaches despite missing five-plus games with an ankle injury. In Sutton's absence, both Omar Conteh and Brandon Roberson recorded 100-yard rushing games.
MacPherson's running back corps was hit hard by injuries in 2008, but the group stepped up and performed well regardless. Sutton appeared in parts of nine games during the regular season, averaging 98.9 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry. He also was NU's fourth-leading receiver to earn honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades from the coaches, the fourth All-Big Ten nod of his career. Sutton finished the regular season with 1,195 all-purpose yards in his nine appearances, averaging 132.8 yards per game. As a team, NU averaged 141.8 yards on the ground per game.
The Wildcats employed a running back-by-committee approach in 2009 due to similarly skilled players and injuries. The quartet combined for 10 touchdowns on the season.
MacPherson again came into the 2010 season without a true starter named from among his unit. All told, six different running backs recorded carries and five started at least one game. NU's regular-season rushing total increased 25 percent over its 2009 total when all was said and done. Jacob Schmidt emerged as a reliable starter midway through the year, scoring four touchdowns while starting four games. After an injury to Schmidt, redshirt first-year Mike Trumpy stepped up in a big way to start the next four games until an injury of his own kept him out of the regular season finale and TicketCity Bowl. In his four starts, Trumpy put together two 100-yard rushing efforts (110 at Indiana and 129 versus Illinois), averaging 4.6 yards per carry on the year while leading NU in rushing for the season.
The running game remained consistent in 2011 despite losing Trumpy to an ACL injury in the Big Ten-opener vs. Illinois. Schmidt started 11 of 12 games and led NU's running backs with 465 yards and six touchdowns, including a career performance of 110 yards and two touchdowns at Indiana. Schmidt also keyed one of NU's most memorable drives of the year, a series of 13 plays covering 66 yards and ending in seven points that sealed the 'Cats' win at Nebraska.
MacPherson oversaw a unit that keyed Northwestern's 10-win season in 2012, as converted wideout Venric Mark found a home at running back and exploded on the scene to become NU's first 1,000-yard rusher since 2006. Mark recorded the sixth-best single-season rushing total in school history (1,366 yards), scored 12 rushing touchdowns and topped 100 yards rushing in a game eight times, en route to being named a consensus second-team All-Big Ten performer and a finalist for the coveted Doak Walker Award.
MacPherson combined Mark's dynamism with the hard-nosed running styles of Mike Trumpy and Tyris Jones to help the Wildcats rank fourth in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game (225.5) and come within 70 yards of matching the program's single-season record for team rushing yards.
With Venric Mark enduring several injuries that resulted in a medical redshirt season in 2013, MacPherson relied on Treyvon Green and Mike Trumpy to carry the rushing load, with Green surpassing 100 yards in three different games. Redshirt first-year Stephen Buckley also emerged as a dynamic runner in the mold of Venric Mark -- posting a career-high 99 yards at Iowa -- before seeing his season end with an injury at Nebraska.
Prior to joining the Wildcat staff, MacPherson spent two seasons working on Jeff Genyk's staff at Eastern Michigan University, coaching the Eagles' safeties. Prior to his two-year stint at Eastern Michigan, MacPherson was the defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
A native of Dayton, Ohio, MacPherson attended DePauw University, where he played football for four seasons and was named a two-time first-team all-conference linebacker. He also was named a third-team Football Gazette All-American in 1998. He was DePauw's Defensive Player of the Year in 1998, and went on to be selected to the school's All-Century Team.
Following his graduation in 1999, MacPherson remained at DePauw as a graduate assistant/recruiting coordinator and worked as the running backs coach and the junior varsity offensive coordinator. He earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical performance.
MacPherson and his wife, Pamela, have three children: Thomas, Andrew and Emily.
