Matt Lubick Nominated For Capital One Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award

DALLAS (FWAA) — Nevada’s Matt Lubick is this week’s nominee for the 2024 Capital One Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award. Lubick, the Wolf Pack’s offensive coordinator, has battled leukemia while helping to turn the program around in its first year under a new coaching regime.

“For an offensive coordinator to try and do a good job even if you’re not on chemo isn’t easy with all the hours and the mental fatigue and all that stuff,” Lubick told The Athletic this month. “I’ve gotten farther than I even thought I’d get. I’m just taking it all one week at a time. It’s really been touch-and-go. But I’m grateful.”

Lubick was diagnosed with leukemia on Oct. 7, 2023. He was a senior analyst with Kansas at the time. When Jeff Choate took over as head coach of Nevada in December, he hired Lubick as his offensive coordinator.

The two had been teammates at Montana-Western of the NAIA, and they came up with contingency plans based on Lubick’s recovery.

The 52-year-old Lubick takes five pills a day, with side effects that include nausea and fatigue.

Offensively, Nevada has improved in the Mountain West Conference from 12th to 7th in scoring, from 12th to 6th in yards, from 12th to 6th in yards per play, and from 9th to 4th in rushing. The Wolf Pack completely flipped over their roster from a year ago and are 3-5 on the season, after winning a combined four games in 2022 and ’23.

Nevada’s offense has also cracked the national Top 10 in two important categories. A season after scoring on just 80 percent of its red-zone trips overall with just 16 touchdowns, Nevada now ranks seventh in the country with a 96.3 red-zone efficiency rate, converting 26-of-27 trips including 23 touchdowns. Additionally, the Wolf Pack ranks sixth in the country in third-down conversion rate at 53.7, a figure leading directly to its Mountain West-best 32:34 time of possession.

Lubick arrives to the office around 5 a.m. each morning and leaves by 7:45 p.m. His colleagues are constantly checking in on him, and they have given him the appropriate space when need be.

Lubick is in his 30th year of college coaching, having worked mostly with wide receivers and defensive backs. He has previously called offenses at Oregon, Washington and Nebraska, as well.

“Guys, nothing is promised in life,” Lubick told his team this season. “I’ve living proof that you gotta live in the moment. Don’t take anything for granted. Appreciate the day but don’t waste another day being miserable.”