Matt Gordon joined the Valpo men's basketball staff as an assistant coach prior to the 2023-24 season.
Year 3 of Gordon’s Valpo tenure in 2025-2026 saw the program record its best conference winning percentage and highest league win total since joining the Missouri Valley Conference in 2017. The team went 11-9 in MVC play, nearly doubling its conference win total for a second straight season, and notching the team’s first-ever winning season in Valley play. Overall, Valpo won 18 games including 17 regular-season contests in 2025-26, the program’s highest regular-season win total since its final season in the Horizon League in 2016-2017. Year 3 of Gordon’s time on staff was Valpo’s first winning season overall since 2019-2020 and featured a 13-4 record at the Athletics-Recreation Center, the team’s highest home win total since 2016-2017.
Gordon’s third season on staff was an underdog story in the sense that Valpo finished tied for sixth in the MVC and just one game out of a tie for third in a tightly-packed league after being picked last in the 11-team league in the preseason poll. Valpo ranked 325th nationally in Division-I experience as only three scholarship members of the team had played a D-I game prior to the season. Valpo finished the regular season at 150 in the KenPom after starting the season at 283, moving up 133 spots in the rankings, tied for the fourth largest improvement nationally.
The 2025-26 season saw Valpo sweep the regular-season series from UIC for the first time since the Flames joined The Valley, sweep the regular-season series from Indiana State for just the second time since joining The Valley, win a first-round MVC Tournament game over Indiana State to advance to the league quarterfinals, end a 10-game head-to-head losing streak to Bradley and squash an eight-game head-to-head skid to Drake while notching a road victory over the Bulldogs for the first time since 2018 en route to sweeping Drake for the first time since 2017-18.
In Gordon’s first two seasons in Northwest Indiana, the Valpo coaching staff recruited and developed back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Freshmen of the Year, marking just the third time that the same team won that award in consecutive seasons since the honor began in 1986. In his second season on staff, Gordon helped Valpo over double its win total from the previous year as the Beacons recorded 15 victories in 2024-25, the team’s highest output since 2019-20. Valpo picked up numerous breakthrough triumphs in Gordon’s second season on staff en route to an MVC Tournament semifinal appearance. The team won a season series against Missouri State for the first time in 16 seasons of shared conference affiliation, defeated UNI in back-to-back matchups for the first time in 40 all-time meetings and beat Belmont for the first time since the Bruins joined the Missouri Valley Conference thanks to a 101-point output, Valpo’s highest in league play since 1998.
Gordon came to Northwest Indiana after a stint in the Big 12 Conference as he spent the last two years at Oklahoma as Director of Recruiting and Special Assistant to head coach Porter Moser. He joined Moser in Norman, Okla. after they previously worked together for a decade at Loyola Chicago. Gordon was an assistant coach for his last seven seasons with the Ramblers after spending the first three as Director of Basketball Operations.
Gordon knows what it takes to win in the Missouri Valley Conference from his time at Loyola, as he played a key role in a turnaround that saw the Ramblers post a 156-80 (.661) record during his seven seasons as an assistant coach. The team won 18 or more games in each of his last five years on staff and had a 56-16 (.778) conference record over the last four seasons. Loyola picked up a dozen wins over power conference opponents during Gordon’s time in Rogers Park.
Gordon was part of a historic run of dominance during his time on Chicago’s north side, playing an instrumental role in the team’s two Sweet Sixteen appearances in a four-year period including the program’s first Final Four berth in over 45 years in 2017-18, a season that featured a school-record 32 wins. The Ramblers won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship in three of his final four seasons on staff and finished as the runner-up in the remaining season. While with the Ramblers, Gordon coached three Missouri Valley Conference Players of the Year.
Before arriving at Loyola, Gordon worked under Rick Majerus at Saint Louis as Director of Basketball Operations from 2008-2011. He gained experience in the NBA as a basketball operations intern with the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2007-2008 season, when he assisted the Grizzlies’ coaching staff with multiple projects in the video department.
A 2006 Illinois State graduate, Gordon began his basketball career with three seasons as the head student manager for the Redbirds when Moser was the head coach in Bloomington-Normal. He also served as ISU’s video coordinator. Gordon is married to his wife, Kate.
What They’re Saying About Coach Gordon
Drew Valentine, Loyola Head Coach: “Flash is a basketball lifer. He is incredibly meticulous with his everyday approach and his attention to detail is as complete as I’ve ever seen. But it’s his loyalty and values as a person that make him who he is. He is incredibly high character and is wired to win. I loved working alongside him as assistants at Loyola, and he knows exactly what it takes to win championships in the MVC.”
Emanuel Dildy, Oklahoma Assistant Coach: “Matt is one of the hardest-working people who I have ever encountered. He has a tremendous dedication to developing student-athletes both on and off the court. Matt’s tireless drive to build relationships with student-athletes and in the community is an asset to any university.”
David Patrick, Sacramento State Head Coach: “Coach Powell has hired a fantastic human being and basketball mind who encompasses and understands winning. Flash is a tremendous teacher on the basketball floor and has been a major contributor to winning at the highest level. I couldn’t be happier for Matt and his family to be back closer to home at a tradition-filled university like Valparaiso.”
Daniyal Robinson, Cleveland State Head Coach: “Coach Powell knocked it out the park with this hire. Coach Matt Gordon is extremely detail-oriented and is great teacher of the game. He comes in every day highly prepared and has a long history of establishing genuine relationships with players. Coach Gordon joins Valparaiso with a sustained track record of transforming programs in the Missouri Valley, most notably playing an instrumental role in Loyola Chicago’s historic run to the Final Four in 2018. Coach has continuously impacted winning and played a key role in the individual success of so many student-athletes. Through his loyalty and tireless effort, Coach Gordon will continue to be an integral part of success in joining Coach Powell’s staff."
