Matt Flowers ready to bloom as boys basketball coach at Muhlenberg
Jun. 16—Matt Flowers always has wanted to coach basketball at Muhlenberg, his alma mater; several years ago he told his dad, Robert, that the next time the job became available he would go after it.
When that door opened in late March, Flowers hesitated; he still was reeling from the loss of his father five months earlier.
"I really didn't have it in me to go be a head coach (at that time)," said Flowers.
His tight inner circle — Tara, his wife; Rob, his brother; Karen, his mother; and Rick Perez, his lifelong friend and the Reading High coach — convinced him the timing was right.
"It was a very emotional time," said Flowers, who was coming off a PIAA championship season at Reading High, where he had been a long-time assistant on Perez's staff. "I took the time that I needed. Once I got done talking with (my family) I was ready to do what I set out to do."
The Muhlenberg School Board approved Flowers' hiring at its meeting Wednesday.
Flowers already has been on the job a couple weeks. He began open gyms last week and took his team to a tournament last weekend.
He's encouraged by what he's seen so far.
When he arrived 30 minutes before the summer's first open gym, scheduled for 6 a.m., he saw nearly four dozen players at the door eager to get started.
"That was a blessing," he said. "The kids were ready to go, and we're gonna keep going."
The Muhlenberg program has been on an upswing for several years. With Flowers now at the helm, it's expected to stay at the top.
Tyrone Nesby transformed the program practically overnight after he arrived in 2017. He had the Muhls in a district final in his second season and they won the Class 5A title in his third.
Nesby taught the Muhls a wide-open offensive style and they twice broke the Berks record for 3-pointers.
Their style will change under Flowers. He was considered a defensive taskmaster and a driving force at Reading High, where he helped the Red Knights win nearly 77% of their games — along with five Berks Conference titles, three District 3 championships and two state titles — during his 11 seasons.
He'll draw upon the same things that helped him and Perez elevate Reading's program to an elite level.
"The formula won't change," he said. "I've been part of great staffs at Reading where the formula was the formula, and it's gonna be the same at Muhlenberg. We're gonna work hard, we're gonna lift weights, we're going to be the best-conditioned team out there. When people get done playing with us they're gonna say: 'Wow, they work really hard, they're a team.' "
Flowers played basketball and football for the Muhls and graduated from the school in 2001.
He previously coached at Muhlenberg as an assistant for Tom Sload and Richard Reyes.
Flowers is the second high-impact coach to leave Reading's program in the last two years. Following the 2019-2020 season, Jai-T Randall, another highly respect assistant, left to become head coach at Dieruff.
The Red Knights' program remains in great shape, of course. Six of the eight players who saw time in their 58-57 victory over Archbishop Wood in the PIAA Class 6A championship game return.
Muhlenberg, the defending Berks II champ, will play Reading High at least once next season in a divisional crossover game. The meeting will pit Flowers against Perez, whom he considers a brother and a mentor. It will make things interesting, to say the least.
"We succeeded together, and we want to see each other succeed in our own programs," Flowers said. "He's helped develop me as a coach. Without his leadership and his guidance I wouldn't be half the coach I am today.
"We're embracing (our roles). It's not Matt Flowers vs. Rick Perez; it never, ever will be that. Obviously we both want to win for our kids, but at the end of the day we always will be brothers."
