DAK World Sports-Business Person of the Year: Erin Matson
Hello World,
Each year, major publications give out an award to honor some of the most impactful people of the year. Although this may not be a big publication, there are still people who deserve to be recognized, and this year I think I have found the perfect person to have crossed over sports and business seamlessly. I don't even know if there will be a follow-up to this, but we can come back around to this on the first Monday of December next year.
Without further ado, the Inaugural DAK World Sports-Business Person of the Year is Erin Matson. The most decorated player in North Carolina field hockey history took a gigantic leap this year in late January when she was announced her position as the next head coach of the very program she just finished playing for. At just 23 years old, she is already a 5X National Champion and 6X ACC Conference Champion.
But let's take a step back and give a bigger overview of her story. Matson was born and raised in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and started playing field hockey in 2006. She followed in her mother's footsteps as her mom played field hockey and softball for Yale, and her father was a baseball player at Deleware. Before heading into the collegiate ranks she became one of two players to ever be selected to the U. S. Women's National Team at the age of 16. During her time representing the United States, she would place Bronze both in 2017 and 2019. She joined North Carolina in 2018, where she joined one of the most dominant programs in the nation.
In the fall of 2018, she made her debut for the Tarheels, where during her time as a player, she won 4 NCAA National Championships and 5 ACC Conference Championships. Along the way, she attained multiple individual accolades, such as being a 3-time recipient of the Honda Sports Award and being recognized as the nation's top collegiate field hockey player in 2019, 2020, and 2022. She was also recognized as the ACC Player of the Year and ACC Offensive Player of the Year every season she played at Carolina.
As she was racking up accolades, she also found time to become an entrepreneur. She founded a brand, "One", which sells gear bearing her logo. Her company also organized and executed summer clinics to help other athletes maximize all they could from the new NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rules which had been newly introduced into the NCAA.
Following the retirement of UNC's winningest coach of all time, Karen Shelton, and only a month after her graduation from the school, Matson was named head coach. She inherited a defending national championship team, which featured many of her own teammates. During her first season, the team would go 18-3 on route to their 5th national title in 6 years. She has become the second youngest NCAA Division I coach in history to win a national title.
Matson is far from done, but man, she's an inspiration to everyone. A story like hers has never been written and is something you would only believe to be made up by Hollywood. I hope that when they make a movie about her story, this achievement of being the first DAK World Sports-Business Person of the Year gets mentioned as a key point in her story. I am excited to see where she takes her program next and continues to build on her already incredible legacy.