The 31-year-old assistant football coach at Jefferson High, after learning alongside Blue Jay head coach Alex Rouggly for seven years, was the logical and unanimous choice of the Jefferson R-7 Board of Education to succeed Rouggly in the top job.
Atley played both ways at Hillsboro High, where Rouggly was an assistant coach, before graduating in 2008. Atley then attended Lindenwood University in St. Charles and played football for the Lions, who moved up to NCAA Division II membership while he was there.
After one quick season as an assistant coach at North County in Bonne Terre, he joined Jefferson’s staff in 2015, Rouggly’s first year as head coach. Atley became offensive coordinator in 2018. Rouggly moved up to activities director at Jefferson this fall but agreed to stay on as head coach for the 2021 campaign. He guided the Blue Jays to a 7-3 finish and had a career record of 51-24, including a berth in the Class 2 semifinals in 2020.
Atley will continue to teach strength and conditioning at the high school. That gives him a first-hand look at the players he’ll oversee during each football season.
“I’m very blessed to be in this position and am thankful that R-7 has been home, and I want to keep the tradition going in the right direction,” Atley said. “I’m really ecstatic. It’s a great opportunity and I’m excited to continue working with our student-athletes and keep building on what Coach Rouggly did with our program.”
Rouggly said the open position attracted five outside applicants, a number that surely would have been higher if it weren’t so apparent Atley’s time had arrived.
“He’s as loyal as they come,” Rouggly said. “I’m like a proud dad, seeing him interview the way he did. Matt came into the interview extremely prepared, which didn’t surprise me.
“He deserves the position. He reminds me of myself when I was a young assistant. I took my time getting into head coaching and learned from some good people. It’s his time to be a head football coach.”
Rouggly learned at Hillsboro under former head coach Brian Robbins, who took the Hawks from a winless program in 2007 to a district championship five years later in the first season under the current playoff format. Rouggly took those lessons and applied them at Jefferson, which didn’t start playing on the varsity level until 2011.
“(Robbins) trained us to be head coaches in everything he did,” Rouggly said. “Did I think I was going to be an AD seven years ago? No. But we (Rouggly and Atley) talked about it a couple of years ago I knew he wanted to be a head coach somewhere and thankfully it was at Jefferson.
“We had an instant connection when he was a player for me. I sought him out when I was hired as head coach at Jefferson. I told the assistants that I’d train them the best I could to be head coaches. It’s gratifying and exciting to see a kid you coached in high school progress in our profession.”
A year after Jefferson reached the state semifinals and then lost a number of top players to graduation, 2021 was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Rouggly in his final campaign. Instead, Atley’s offense roasted defenses on the arm of quarterback Drew Breeze (1,546 passing yards, 15 touchdown passes) and the Blue Jays scored 40 or more points six times, notching a season high of 61 against I-55 Conference rival Bayless. But Jefferson lost 22-21 at home to Kelly in the first round of the Class 2 District 1 playoffs.
Atley said the 2020 team was easy to coach because the players held each other accountable.
“One of the big things I noticed is we had an abundance of leadership,” he said. “The car was driving itself. Our kids wanted to play for each other And we’re trying to continue that mindset.
“We want to keep things simple for us but complicated for the other team. We had some good athletes and that carried over this season when people thought it was a rebuilding year for us.”
St. Pius X won the I-55 championship this season, going 5-0, with Jefferson second at 4-1. Perennial champion Valle Catholic left the league a year ago, creating a power vacuum for the Blue Jays, Lancers and the rest of the conference to fill.
With Atley’s move, the Blue Jays have one opening for an assistant coach for 2022. Rouggly admitted it’s hard stepping away from the head coaching role.
“No doubt about that,” he said. “I’ll still be involved. We’ll have meetings, I’ll check out the game film on weekends. It’s Matt’s program and he’s going to do it the way he wants to. He knows when he needs to ask for help. That will help him be extremely successful.”
Atley said he understands the importance of keeping a balance in his longtime friendship with Rouggly, who is still his boss. That can be easier said than done. Both realize what’s most important is the development of the student-athletes at R-7.
“He’s been helping me prepare for this for a long time,” Atley said. “It’s not like he’s leaving. He’s down the hallway and when I need his advice, he’ll be there. We’re part of a great community. You see that in the success of many of our sports teams.”