Matt Coldren-Wilson

How strongly does Matt Coldren feel about his former coach Reggie Weiss? Coldren said, “I’m coaching because of him. I worshipped him. I wanted to be him.” Coldren surpassed Weiss for the most wins in school history, but his team certainly didn’t make it easy. The Bulldogs went 6-14 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. However, they managed to hold off Berks Catholic 51-48 in West Lawn. Coldren is (363-171) over 21 seasons as head coach. The 1990 Wilson graduate was an all-county selection as a senior. He served as an assistant at Wilson under Weiss for six years before taking over the program. Coldren was thrilled that Weiss was in attendance to see him break the record. We talked about their relationship. Coldren is also very good friends with Berks Catholic coach Snip Esterly who has 754 career victories. Coldren thought it was special to have both Weiss and Esterly at the game. Esterly is a 1976 Wilson grad who was an assistant coach under Weiss at Central Catholic. They won a state championship in 1985. Coldren is proud of how his team has bounced back from an (0-3) start in league play. The Bulldogs led the Saints 23-19 at halftime. It was tied at 35 after the third quarter. Cam Jones took over in the second half with 17 points. The all-state football player finished with 21 points including ten in the final period. Jones also pulled down eight rebounds. Berks Catholic was scoreless for the first six minutes and 38 seconds of the fourth quarter. Ryan Koch caught fire from beyond the arc late. The 6’3 junior hit three 3-pointers down the stretch and six overall. Koch poured in 27 points for the (8-2, 3-2) Saints. Jack Miller sank two free throws with 37 seconds remaining to get Berks Catholic within 47-46. Wilson was still up one with nine seconds to go when junior Aidan Melograna sealed it with a breakaway layup. Coldren described that inbounds play. He admitted that Jones was looking forward to facing JayJay Jordan. The Saints’ junior point guard had twelve points before fouling out with 58 seconds left. Coldren was pleased with the contributions that he got from his bench (13 points). The Bulldogs improved to (6-4, 2-3). Their coach knows that the Division 1 race is going to be very tight. Coldren gave credit to all of his assistants over the years. Finally, we joked about my twin brother who Coldren has mentioned on social media.