Former UW Receivers Coach Lubick Hired as Nevada OC

He worked under Chris Petersen for two seasons in Montlake.

Matt Lubick is shown before the 2015 national championship game while working for Oregon. / Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

Matt Lubick, a former University of Washington wide-receivers coach who's lately been dealing with significant health issues, has been named Nevada offensive coordinator, hired by new Wolf Pack coach Jeff Choate, another one-time Husky assistant.

Last fall, Lubick, 52, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia while serving as a senior analyst for Kansas and has been receiving treatments in Colorado.

Among several college coaching stops, Lubick spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons on Chris Petersen's UW staff supervising the receivers and holding the additiohal title as co-offensive coordinator while working in concert with Jonathan Smith.

Lubick came to Montlake after coaching at Oregon for four seasons, the last one as offensive coordinator. He left Eugene when Mark Helfrich wasn't retained as the Ducks coach.

He hardly took a direct route to the UW. Lubick first accepted a job as wide-receivers coach with Mississippi in December 2016 and resigned less than a month later to take the same position at Baylor. The following month, he resigned again and joined Petersen's UW staff.

Once at the UW, he raised a few eyebrows by suggesting the UW facilities were even better than Oregon's well-publicized football infrastructure.

"I'd never really had the chance to experience what's around Husky Stadium, how beautiful the campus is, and the actual facilities — they did everything first-class," Lubick told the athletic departmenl website. "I thought we had excellent facilities at Oregon, but this is as good as it gets, especially in terms of how convenient and functional it all is. You couldn't have a better situation as far as getting to meetings and the game field and having everything right there."

That job lasted just two seasons, capped by the Huskies' Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State. However, Petersen didn't retain Lubuck when his contract expired. Lubick temporarily gave up coaching and went to work for a Colorado credit union, then returned at Nebraska as the offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021, getting let go when coach Scott Frost's offensive staff was dismantled.

Lubick credits coaching with helping him get through his cancer diagnosis.

"I was crushed, but I knew what to do and I was prepared," he told ESPN. "I'm grateful for the profession. You have to be prepared and deal with adversity. Life challenges are opportunities to grow. That's what I've been telling my players for the last 20 years, and now I have to live my advice."

Lubick and Choate never worked together in Seattle, missing when Choate left as UW defensive coordinator following the 2015 season to become the Montana State head coach, two years before Lubick arrived.