When the calendar turns from July to August, Matt Dunkin smiles a little more than normal and with good reason: it’s his favorite time of year. Outside of the drivers and crews that invade “The Sprint Car Capital of the World” for the biggest dirt track racing event on the planet, the Knoxville Nationals, Dunkin might be the busiest guy in town. Not only does Dunkin help his father, Chris, and a host of others prepare the racing surface any time a race car takes to the Knoxville Raceway, Dunkin is also the Head Coach of the Knoxville Panthers football program.
“August is a busy time in my household to say the least. Obviously with football officially starting up things are crazy but then tie in working on the racetrack for the Knoxville Nationals and it makes for a long 10 days. I have a great coaching staff, so that helps make everything work on that end with the added responsibility of working on the track. We also have a great crew that works on the track. I’m pretty thankful for both groups of people. The typical schedule for that week is football practice early in the morning and then I head right to the track to start working there. I usually work until 5:30 pm or so on race days. I’ll work on my football stuff if/when I have downtime throughout the day. From there, it’s just rinse and repeat for those 10 days of racing,” Dunkin told Sports Guys Iowa. The Knoxville native also teaches third grade at Northstar Elementary in town.
This year is a little different though Dunkin discussed, as the Knoxville Nationals start a little earlier than usual (July 31 kicks off the 360 portion of the event) with football practice officially beginning August 11. The Panthers do have a team mini-camp August 4 and 5 that corresponds with the racing action as well as other workouts, but Dunkin is thankful for the break in the schedule 2025 allows. And in the years when practice and racing lines up, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Just like how the action seems to get better as the Knoxville Nationals progress, Dunkin is hopeful that his pigskin program can continue their upward trend with improvement on the gridiron. It has been over a decade since Knoxville made the Iowa High School State Playoffs. Before 2014, it was 1990 when the Panthers last qualified for postseason play. 1990 was also their first time making the playoffs. In his first season leading Knoxville, the team went just 1-8 on the year in 2022. Then they went 2-7 in 2023. Last season, they were 4-5 and he believed they were as competitive as they’ve been during his tenure. “Our guys are starting to believe in what they are capable of doing.”
Winning more has helped improve morale for the student athletes. Dunkin, his staff, and his players have helped create some new buzz around town. One neat thing the team does is a “Signing Day” for incoming junior high players that are making the transition to high school every year, because there is a revolving door and time doesn’t stop.
Out the revolving door goes 18 seniors from their 2024 squad, leaving the door open for some exciting new players to step in and step up. Junior Roston McCarty will take over quarterback duties from the departed Brenden Woolsey. His classmates Eli Fuller, TaShawn Conner, and Grant DeMoss will look to replace star wideout Koby Higginbotham’s production and give defensive backs fits. Dunkin has been impressed with those four players’ leadership abilities and the time they’ve committed off the field to be ready for this season.
Senior linemen Regan Roberts and Carter Loukota along with junior Tristian Stevenson are the returning starters on the offensive line and will try to keep McCarty and junior halfback Jackson Clarke’s jerseys clean. Roberts, Loukota, and Stevenson are also returning starters on the defensive line. Clarke will anchor the Panther defense as Dunkin elaborated that Clarke “loves to play football and the contact that it brings.”
Overall, Dunkin is pleased with the entire team’s offseason. They plan to take things week by week and focus on continuous improvement. “We focus on taking it day by day, one practice a time, so when Friday rolls around we know we are prepared and did everything we could to have success. If we take care of the little things during the week, the big things will follow.”
Knoxville has four non-district games and they’re all in the first four weeks: on the road against Centerville on Friday, August 29, the home opener versus Mount Pleasant, a road tilt with Albia, then a home matchup against Fairfield. Class 3A District 5 action starts with a pair of away contests against Saydel and Winterset before returning home against Des Moines Christian. Perennial powerhouse Williamsburg is Knoxville’s week 8 foe and they’ll be led by former Iowa Hawkeye and NFL veteran Austin Blythe in his first year as the Raiders Head Coach, taking over for long-time leader Curt Ritchie, who is set to lead the Cornell Rams program. The Panthers wrap up the 2025 regular season against Nevada with senior night on October 24.
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