Football Coaching Staff
Matt Dillon, Head Coach (4th year)
Matt Dillon, who coached West Des Moines (Iowa) Dowling High School to the 2000 and 2001 Class 4A state football championships, begins his fourth season as Cornell's head football coach in 2009. Dillon, a 1981 Cornell graduate, owns a 148-128 career record in 27 years coaching football.
Dillon earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and business from Cornell in 1981. He received a master’s degree in physical education from Iowa State University in 1986. Dillon was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and was selected as the quarterback on the Cornell all-century team in 1992. He was a team captain three times from 1978-1980 and team MVP in 1978 and 1980.
“This is a tremendous opportunity and I’m excited to take on the challenges of this job,” Dillon said. “This is the job I’ve dreamed of having since May of 1981.”
In 24 years as a high school head coach, Dillon is best known for piloting Dowling to a 79-20 record from 1996-2005 and advancing to the state playoffs seven times. The Maroons won the championship twice and were runner-up in 1998. Last season Dillon was head coach at West Hall (Ga.) High School and won three regional games while starting two freshmen, nine sophomores and six juniors. From 1982-87 Dillon was head coach at North Polk (Iowa) High School and led the Comets to their first playoff appearance and first playoff victory in 1986. He then coached Bozeman (Mont.) High School from 1987-89 and led the team to its first winning season in more than a decade. From 1989-92 Dillon coached Lake Worth (Fla.) High School and helped lead it to the first back-to-back winning seasons in a decade. He coached at Wellington (Fla.) High School from 1992-96 and led the school to its first winning season in school history (8-2) and qualified for the state playoffs for the first time in school history.
Dillon, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., played at Cornell from 1977-80, where he became one of the most prolific passers in NCAA history. During that time the Rams compiled a record of 30-6 and won Midwest Conference Championships in 1978 and 1980. For his career, Dillon completed 307 of 568 passes for 4,877 yards and 49 touchdowns. He still shares a school record with five touchdown passes in a game, against Coe in 1978 and the University of Chicago in 1980.
“Cornell is a great place to go to school and get an education,” Dillon said. “I had an outstanding football experience here and some really positive things happened to me while I was at Cornell.”
Dillon and his wife, Marva, have three children: Zach, 26, Samantha, 23, and Joey, 20.
Josh Rife, Offensive Line (2nd year)
Rife, a 1996 graduate of Mount Vernon High School, begins his second season on Cornell's football staff as offensive line coach.
Rife was an all-district football performer at Mount Vernon and helped lead the Mustangs to Class 3A state football championships in 1993 and 1994. He was a four-year football letterwinner and three-year starter at St. Olaf College and earned all-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognition in football and track.
Rife, a National Merit Scholar, received a bachelor's degree in political science from St. Olaf in 2001. He has held previous positions at Mount Vernon as assistant football coach and assistant girls track and field coach.
Don Dicus, Offensive Coordinator (1st year)
Dicus, a 1985 Cornell graduate, begins his first season on the Rams' staff as offensive coordinator.
Dicus coached and taught for 23 years at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was head coach at Cardinal Newman from 2004-08, guiding the Crusaders to three playoff appearances, one district championship and two district runner-up finishes. Dicus served as the school's defensive coordinator for 18 years prior to taking the head post in 2004.
During his tenure at Cardinal Newman, he coached 29 all-staters, 20 NCAA Division I players and three All-Americans. Eleven of his graduates currently play college football.
Dicus was an assistant baseball coach at Cardinal Newman for 16 years and held the title as Dean of Student five years. He also was head of the physical education department.
Dicus returns to his alma mater after a successful playing career with the Rams from 1981-85. A member of Cornell's All-Century Team, Dicus was a four-year football letterwinner and earned first team all-conference honors at defensive end in his junior and senior seasons. As a senior co-captain in 1984, he helped lead the 8-2 Rams to the Midwest Conference championship.
Dicus earned a bachelor's degree in education in May 1985. He also played baseball two years at Cornell.
Dicus and his wife, Tonya, have two daughters, Taylor, 15, and Delaney, 10.
Adam Eichhorn, Defensive Coordinator (1st year)
Adam Eichhorn, a 2006 graduate of Cornell, begins his first season on the Rams' football staff as defensive coordinator in 2009.
Eichhorn, a native of Maquoketa, was a graduate assistant at Marietta (Ohio) College for two years prior to returning to his alma mater. He was defensive line coach for the Pioneers in 2008.
Eichhorn was a four-year starter at linebacker during a productive playing career with the Rams. The three-year team captain was named Rookie of the Year in 2003 and Defensive Most Valuable Player in 2003 and 2004. Eichhorn was selected second team all-Iowa Conference his junior season and tabbed to Don Hansen's Preseason All-American Team in 2006. He finished with 334 career tackles, including 19 for losses.
Eichhorn was the recipient of Cornell's Paul K. Scott Senior Male Athlete of the Year award in 2007. He earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell in Economics and Business. Eichhorn plans to complete his master's from Marietta in summer 2009.
Eichhorn is a 2001 graduate of Maquoketa High School, where he was an all-district and all-Eastern Iowa performer on the grid iron. He also was a state track qualifier in the 4x100 relay.
Leif Goleman, Defense (1st year)
Goleman, a four-year football letterwinner for the Rams from 2005-08, begins his first season as a student assistant on Cornell's coaching staff. He will work with the defense this season.
Goleman, a native of De Soto, Kan., led the Rams with 87 tackles from his linebacker position during his senior season. He finished his playing career with 200 tackles and 10.5 tackles for loss in 35 games at Cornell.
Goleman is expected to graduate from Cornell in winter 2009. He is majoring in economics and business with a minor in sociology.
Brian Kline, Defensive backs (1st year)
Brian Kline, a key player on Coach Matt Dillon's 2000 state championship football team at West Des Moines Dowling High School, begins his first season on the Rams' staff as defensive backs coach.
Kline played football at NCAA Division II University of Nebraska at Omaha his freshman season prior to transferring to the University of Iowa as a walk-on from 2002-04. As a safety at Iowa, he was a member of the Hawkeyes' 2002 Big Ten co-championship squad which played in the 2003 Orange Bowl. Kline also was part of Iowa's Outback Bowl victory over Florida in 2004. The Hawkeyes finished No. 8 in the national polls during Kline's two seasons on the team.
Kline earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Iowa in 2006. He taught and coached at Chicago Hope Academy in 2008-09. Kline is actively pursuing a master's degree in education.
Kline enjoyed a successful athletic career at Dowling, where he is the school's career leader in rushing yards. A two-time all-state running back and a three-year varsity starter at defensive back, Kline helped guide the Maroons to a Class 4A state runner-up finish in 1998 and a state title in 2000. He was part of Dowling's state baseball championships in 1999 and 2001 as a three-year starter at third base. Kline also earned three varsity letters in track and one in wrestling.
Lucas Stanton, Outside Linebackers/Assistant Special Teams (3rd year)
Lucas Stanton, a Mount Vernon native and 2007 graduate of Cornell, begins his second stint and third overall season on the Rams' staff as outside linebackers and assistant special teams coach.
Stanton was an assistant at Cornell in 2006 and 2007, coaching running backs and wide receivers. In 2008, he coached outside linebackers as a graduate assistant at the University of Dubuque.
Stanton was a two-sport athlete at Cornell, competing in football four years and track and field three. He was a two-year starting fullback with the Rams and named the team's Most Improved Offensive Player during his senior season in 2005.
Stanton earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science and kinesiology in 2007. He is currently working toward his master's in education.
A 2002 graduate of Mount Vernon High School, Stanton led the Mustangs to the 2001 Class 3A state semifinals as an all-state running back his senior season. He was also part of Mount Vernon's state playoff team in 2000. Stanton was a three-time all-district performer in football, playing running back and defensive back. He was a two-time all-conference selection in basketball, earning all-state accolades as a senior.
Jim Wallace, Tight Ends (32nd year)
Wallace is in his 32nd season on the Rams coaching staff. He graduated from Mount Vernon (Iowa) High School in 1964 before starting three years at center on the Cornell football team.
Wallace graduated from Cornell in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. He earned a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Northern Iowa in 1971.
Wallace coached at Fredericksburg, English Valleys and Northeast (Goose Lake) high schools in Iowa before returning to Cornell in 1978. Aside from being assistant football coach, he has been head track and field, head golf and assistant basketball coach at Cornell.
Wallace and his wife, Jackie, have a son, Joel, 32, and a daughter, Jamie, 25.
Doug Wumkes, Linebackers (5th year)
Wumkes begins his fifth season as an assistant on Cornell's coaching staff in 2009.
He is a 1967 graduate of State College High School in Cedar Falls, received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Northern Iowa in 1971 and a master’s degree in history from the University of Iowa in 1986. Wumkes taught and coached at Mount Pleasant (Iowa) High School from 1971-76 and at Mount Vernon (Iowa) High School from 1976-2005. He was an assistant varsity football coach at Mount Vernon. During that span the Mustangs qualified for the state playoffs 14 times, placed second twice and won back-to-back state championships in 1993 and 1994. Following the 1994 season, Wumkes was named Assistant Coach of the Year by the Iowa Football Coaches Association.
Wumkes and his wife, Jayne, reside in Mount Vernon. They have two grown children, Douglas of Waukon and Rebecca of Lisbon.
