Education
University of Michigan.
University of Michigan.
Matchefts played for Team United States of America at the 1956 Winter Olympics. Player
Matchefts then moved on to Michigan, signing up to play for the national powerhouse under the charge of Vic Heyliger. Coaching
Matchefts returned to Minnesota and spent more than a decade as the coach for both his previous high school and Thief River Falls High School before being offered the opportunity to succeed Bob Johnson as head coach at Colorado College.
After a decent first season Matchefts" Tigers dropped to the bottom of the conference and stayed well below.500 for the remainder of his tenure and he was out as coach after the 1970-1971 season after the school denied his request for a $200 raise.
A year later Matchefts" joined his old college coach, Vic Heyliger, at The Air Force Academy as an assistant and eventually succeeded him in 1974-1975. for the next 11 seasons as coach for the Falcons, Matchefts led the airmen through ups and downs as the program established itself as a Division I Independent before retiring and turning the team over to Chuck Delich in 1984-1985. On November 10, 2013 John Matchefts died in the city where he spent so much of his coaching career, Colorado Springs.