Amherst College Athletics

• 3-Time NESCAC Champion
• 5 NCAA Tournament Appearances
• Coached 33 All-NESCAC, 12 All-America Selections
• 2024 NESCAC Coach of the Year 
• 3-Time AHCA Division III Coach of the Year finalist 

Head Women's Ice Hockey Coach Jeff Matthews has been behind the Amherst bench since 2012. The 2025-26 season marks his 14th year at Amherst and 13th season (due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Amherst has posted a winning record in every season of Matthews' tenure and has won three of the last five NESCAC Championships while advancing to the NCAA Division III Championship game in two of the last three seasons.

Matthews has a career record of 209-81-34 entering the 2025-26 season. His 209 wins at the Division III level, accomplished in 12 seasons, are the most wins of any active Division III head coach with fewer than 19 seasons behind the bench. His .698 winning percentage is 10th-best among all active Division III coaches.

The Mammoths have finished atop the NESCAC standings for the last three straight seasons, played in 10 straight NESCAC semifinals and advanced to the NESCAC championship game in seven of the last nine seasons, winning three titles. Amherst has played in 5 NCAA Division III Tournaments and won the Little Three Championship in 9 of the 12 seasons with Matthews behind the bench, while his student-athletes have earned 12 All-America selections, including 6 first-team nods.

The 2024-25 season marked another championship run for Matthews and the Mammoths as the team roared through the season, leading the NESCAC in goals scored and leading the nation in scoring defense as one of just four teams that allowed fewer than one goal per game. The Mammoths were just as stingy on the penalty kill, allowing only two power-play goals in 30 games to lead the NESCAC and rank second in the nation. After winning the NESCAC Championship, the Mammoths entered the NCAA Tournament ranked second in the nation in the NPI rankings and finished the season as national runners-up for the second time in the last three seasons. Three Mammoths earned All-America honors and four were named All-NESCAC, including Gretchen Dann ’26, who was named NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Matthews was named NESCAC Coach of the Year after a 2023-24 campaign that saw the Mammoths once again finish atop the NESCAC standings. Amherst allowed only 24 goals all season, the fewest of any team in the nation, and was the least-penalized team in the nation, entering the NCAA Tournament ranked fourth in the PairWise rankings.

The 2022-23 season was a record high for Matthews. This season's .867 win percentage is the highest of his career for a single season. Matthews was also named New England Hockey Writers Association's Div. II-III Coach of the Year and CCM/AHCA Women’s DIII National Coach of the Year runner-up. The Mammoths constructed the best regular-season record in the NESCAC, earning the top seed for the postseason tournament. They became the first team to not allow a goal in a three-game tourney run with shutout victories over Wesleyan, Middlebury and Hamilton to win the NESCAC Championship.

The 2022-23 season also marked a historic achievement for Amherst, securing the highest number of wins in a single season with a total of 26 victories. The team also had the longest win streak in program history with 18 straight wins. They also finished the season with the top-ranked penalty kill unit in the nation. This team achieved the top position in the NESCAC by leading in both goals scored per game and fewest goals allowed per game. Additionally, they held the distinction of being the least penalized team in the NESCAC.

In 2023, Amherst made history by hosting the NCAA Division III national championship for the first time ever. The third-ranked Amherst team saw its season end just shy of a national championship as the Mammoths fell to top-ranked Gustavus Adolphus, 2-1, in the longest national championship game in tournament history, a triple-overtime thriller in front of a raucous capacity crowd of 1,080 in Orr Rink.

Amherst’s recent championship runs under Matthews have built upon the successes of previous seasons. The 2019-20 Mammoths won the NESCAC Championship, excelling on special teams with the best power play and the fewest penalty minutes per game in the NESCAC. The 2015-16 team got off to the best start to a season in program history (8-0-3) and finished the regular season with a 12-game winning streak to post the best regular-season record in the history of the program (20-1-3), ending the season ranked sixth in the USCHO poll. 

Under Matthews' guidance, Amherst student-athletes have earned 33 All-NESCAC selections and 12 All-America accolades, including three consecutive First Team All-America selections for Natalie Stott ’26. Stott joins Alex Toupal ’18 as three-time All-Americans under Matthews, while Geneva Lloyd ’13, Caitlin Walker ’22 and Dann have earned First Team All-America selections. In just the past five seasons, the Mammoths have earned seven All-America selections, including five first-team nods. 

Matthews' student-athletes have also excelled in the classroom and the community. In the 2024-25 season, 13 Mammoths were selected as AHCA All-American Scholars while Alyssa Xu ’25 was named an Academic All-American, an honor earned by only five women’s ice hockey players in Division III that year. Jocelyn Hunyadi ’19 was named an Academic All-American in 2019, the only women's ice hockey player in the NESCAC to earn the prestigious honor that year. Among other accolades and achievements, Bailey Plaman ’18, Sarah Wagner ’19 and Kaila Bush '25 were each awarded Fulbright grants; Eliza Laycock ’20 created a Mental Health First Aid certification course; Carley Daly ’23 founded the Amherst chapter of Hope Happens Here; and Xu was named a Rhodes Scholar.

Apart from his coaching responsibilities, Matthews has shown dedication to the town of Amherst and its surrounding communities, helping establish the annual ‘Pink in the Rink’ game during his first season in 2012-13. An annual fundraiser in support of breast cancer and spreading breast cancer awareness, the Amherst women’s hockey team has donated all proceeds to the Cancer Connection of Northampton.

Prior to Amherst, Matthews spent six seasons as the head coach of the Northwood School boys’ junior team in Lake Placid, N.Y., racking up a 174-59-17 record and a .730 winning percentage. During his tenure, Matthews coached over 50 hockey alumni who continued their playing careers at Division I and III collegiate institutions nationwide, including Amherst’s own Andrew Fenwick ’15 and Chris Roll ’17. In addition to his coaching duties, Matthews taught economics and was honored with the 2010 Jim Fullerton Award, Northwood’s top faculty prize.

A seasoned coaching veteran, Matthews also spent two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Division I Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, helping to run every facet of the Engineers’ men’s hockey program. He has also served as the head boys’ varsity coach at Northfield Mount Hermon from 2001–04 and as an assistant at Division I American International College.

A 1991 graduate of Deerfield Academy, he earned a bachelor of science degree in business management from Rensselaer in 1995, where he played in 124 games and helped lead the team to an ECAC Championship in his senior season. Following his graduation from RPI, Matthews played professionally for a season in Sweden, and he also went on to receive a master’s degree in educational psychology from American International in 2002.

Matthews is the son of longtime Westfield High School coach C.B. Matthews, who coached the Bombers for 31 years, where he won three state championships and the 2012 Matthew J. Ryan Award for outstanding contributions and dedication to high school hockey in western Massachusetts. C.B. Matthews was inducted into the Massachusetts High School Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024 in honor of his illustrious career. 

Jeff Matthews is married to former Division I Providence College women’s hockey standout Sarah (Youlen) Matthews, who also served as an assistant coach at RPI and Northwood.