Kirk Mastromatteo is in his sixth season as Norfolk State’s offensive coordinator/running backs coach.
In 2005, Mastromatteo joined fellow Spartan coaches Pete Adrian and Mark DeBastiani in coming to Norfolk from the Bethune-Cookman University coaching staff. He made an immediate impact. In 2005, the Spartans ranked fourth in the MEAC in rushing offense, increasing their per-game total from 2004 by nearly 80 yards per game. Under his guidance, the trio of Terrell Johnson, Monte’ Anthony and Daryl Jones combined for more than 2,000 yards on the ground.
In 2007, Jones became just the second NSU running back and first since Angelo Todd in 1998 to rush for 1,000 yards in the Spartans’ Division I history. DeAngelo Branche achieved similar success in 2008, gaining 1,055 yards to give the program its first back-to-back seasons with 1,000-yard rushers since LaRue Harrington did it in 1976-77. Both Jones and Branche earned second-team All-MEAC honors.
Branche also earned second-team accolades last season, when the Spartans scored at least 40 points against three of their MEAC opponents. That had never been done previously in the school’s MEAC history.
Prior to coming to NSU, Mastromatteo was the recruiting coordinator and the running backs coach for the Wildcats for eight seasons. In each of the last seven of those seasons, Bethune-Cookman ranked in the top 21 in Division I-AA in rushing offense. He also helped the Wildcats to a MEAC championship in 2002 and back-to-back berths in the I-AA playoffs (2002-03). B-CU also played in the 1998 McDonald’s Heritage Bowl, the now-defunct game that pitted the MEAC and SWAC football champions.
Prior to joining B-CU, Mastromatteo was offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Fla., from 1996-97. His first collegiate coaching experience came at Division III Widener University in Chester, Pa., in 1995. He was a graduate assistant who coached the quarterbacks and served as assistant to the head coach. That season, he helped Widener to the Mid-Atlantic States Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Mastromatteo’s experience is not limited to the offensive side of the ball. He was the defensive line coach at New Smyrna Beach High School in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., during the 1994-95 school year, and he assisted with several positions while serving as a student assistant at his alma mater, the University of Akron, from 1989-94. At Akron, Mastromatteo assisted with administration and recruiting as well as coaching the defensive line, running backs and defensive backs.
Mastromatteo, a native of Kettering, Ohio, earned his bachelor’s degree in business education from Akron in 1994.
