Matthew Hicks was born in Scranton, PA on October 16, 1973.  Born prematurely, he spent the first several months of his life in the hospital before being allowed to go home.  Shortly after his parents took him home, Matt, Wendy (his sister), and his mother moved to Alabama where his parents were from originally.  Matt graduated from Hewitt Trussville High School in 1992.  He was a 4- year letterman in football and wrestling while wrestling under the guidance of Hall of Fame coaches Scott Roberson and Tony Pugh.  Matt was a 1992 Runner-up in wrestling for Trussville and a 2nd All-State football player as a senior.  Matt considers his time in the Trussville system as the most influential time of his life.  The influence of people like Coach Scott Robertson, Jack Wood, Tony Pugh, Lindsay Warren, Hal McIntosh and Dr. Allan Stephens specifically changed the course of his life.  It was as a student that Matt met Holli as a 14-year-old Freshman at Hewitt Trussville Junior High.  She was, is, and will always be the single most important thing in his life.  They married on June 4, 1993, and together they raised three girls, Gabrielle, Shelby, and Kylie. 

After graduating from Hewitt Trussville in 1992, Matt attended Livingston University on a football scholarship.  After a year, Matt left school and returned to Birmingham.  In his time away from school, he married Holli and volunteered as a football and wrestling coach at Hewitt-Trussville Junior High.  Holli could see he was not happy with the various jobs he had and re-enrolled him at the University of West Alabama.  She surprised him with the acceptance letter.  Matt returned to school in 1994 and this time, he took his wife with him.  He walked back onto the football team where he became the Offensive Player of the Spring and earned his full scholarship back.  After exhausting his eligibility, Matt graduated in 1998 and accepted a job at Scottsboro High School.  Matt coached football and volunteered as a wrestling coach under Hall of Fame coach Wayne McNutt.  After one year, McNutt retired and Coach Hicks accepted his first head coaching position.  Scottsboro finished third in their only season with Hicks at the helm.  Hicks was awarded “Teacher of the Year” in his second year at Scottsboro and “non-renewed” that same year.  From Scottsboro, Matt moved to Cleburne County High School.  He would spend 5 years at Heflin.  While coaching football, wrestling, and softball at Heflin, Hicks found time to complete his master’s degree in educational administration from Jacksonville State University.  After five years in Heflin, Hicks moved to Saint Clair County High School.  Saint Clair County changed his career.  In the nine years spent at Saint Clair County, the Saints would finish second once and won Hicks’ first state championship in 2011.  Matt, Holli, and their girls reside in Odenville to this day.  After nine years at Saint Clair, Hicks spent 2 at Leeds where they won back-to-back state titles in wrestling and football.  Hicks left for Oxford High School after two years at Leeds.  In the brief time in Oxford, the Jackets won back-to-back State Dual Titles and Tournament Titles.  Hicks moved to Pinson Valley High School after leaving Oxford.  He would teach and coach at Pinson Valley for two years before spending his last two years in education at Hoover High School as an assistant wrestling coach under Jacob Gaydosh and Harley Lamey.  In all, Hicks supervised 5 wrestling tournament titles, 2 State Dual titles, 2 Runner up finishes, 4 third place finishes.  As a head coach, Coach Hicks has 27 state champions, 27 runners-up, 20 third place finishers, 15 fourth place finishers, 6 fifth place finishers, and 2 sixth place finishers.  Hicks was named Alabama’s NHFS Coach of the Year in 2015 at Leeds and 2016 at Oxford.  Coach Hicks spent 8 years on the State Wrestling Committee helping to shape the direction of the sport in Alabama.  During his time in education, Coach Hicks has taught American History, World History, Psychology, History of Film, Career Prep, Economics, Current Events, Physical Education, and Adaptive PE.  His former students would tell you that he took his classroom instruction as seriously as he did his coaching.  Matt coached football, wrestling, and softball for most of his career.  For several of those years, he was the Head Coach of the wrestling and softball teams.  Coach Hicks continues to work with young people in his retirement.  He drives a school bus for Margaret Elementary School in Saint Clair County and works as a volunteer with Moody High School’s wrestling and softball team.  Coach Hicks is honored by his recognition and hopes to continue to represent the wrestlers, coaches, and the entire wrestling community with pride.