When Leveda Dexter left the football academic advisor position to become Tennessee Tech's newest assistant athletic director for academics and student-athlete welfare, trying to find someone to replace her was certainly no easy task.

However, the choice to bring in Cody Matthews as Tech football's newest academic advisor was an inspired one. After all, he came through the Golden Eagle program, earned three degrees from the university and knows what it takes to succeed on and off the field.

"I'm ecstatic, to be honest," Matthews said. "I'm so excited to work with some of the coaches and players that I had a chance to play with and work under in the past. Not only that, but there are so many amazing things happening on campus right now. You've got the videoboard going up, which is something I always wanted as a player. There's some excitement in the community about our new staff. Everyone's anxious to see what we can do, and I'm loving being a part of this new wave of change."

Matthews was a member of the Tech football team from 2010 to 2015 and was a member of the 2011 Ohio Valley Conference championship squad. He was a team captain in 2015 and earned the team's Most Valuable Receiver Award twice in 2013 and 2015.

He was recognized with the OVC Medal of Honor in 2012, the conference's honor for the student-athlete with the highest GPA in a conference-sponsored sport. He was also selected for the Collegiate Scholar-Athlete Award by the Middle Tennessee chapter of the National Football Foundation in 2015. Matthews also earned a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District team and was a finalist for the 2015 TTU Athletics Man of the Year Award.

Matthews earned his bachelor's in English in May 2014, his master's in Business Administration in December 2015, then his master's in English in May 2017.

He served as a marketing intern for Tech's Department of Music in 2014, then became a manager for the Tech Men's and Women's Golf teams from 2015 to 2017. Matthews also worked as a business and communications tutor for four years, was a consultant for Tech's Writing Excellence Studio and a graduate assistant in the MBA Studies program as well as an English graduate teaching assistant and adjunct professor.

"It's a way I can use the skills I developed with people at Tech," Matthews said. "I get to extend the legacy of the mentors that helped me. I always think that what you do in the classroom translates so much to what you do on the field. There's the old Aristotle quote – 'Excellence is a habit. Greatness is a habit.' I believe I can be someone who helps them do both, especially when it comes to academics."

Locally, Matthews also worked with Habitat for Humanity, as well as with the TSSAA BlueCross Bowl.

Having Matthews work with the football team is a delight for head coach Dewayne Alexander as the two go back a long way.

"I've known Cody since he was in high school at Gallatin High School," Alexander said. "He played with my son (Hayden), and I knew him when he was a player here. Cody has always been an outstanding student-athlete, on and off the field.

"He understands Tennessee Tech. He understands the commitment our athletics department and that the football program has to not only bring in good football players, but also be serious about our academics. He understands the structure of our study halls, the expectations we have for our guys academically. He's familiar with our academic staff -- Leveda Dexter, Ashlee Kiser and Virginia Lewis – all of them over there."

But the biggest benefit may be Matthews' own background as a Tennessee Tech football player.

"He's been where these guys have been," Alexander said. "He knows what the demands are of a football player here at Tennessee Tech, what the demands are of being a student and he's handled those things very well. We couldn't be more excited to have him.

"By chance, I had him speak to our team with different alumni back in January and February when he was working with the English department. I think when you have Tech alums and, in our case Tech football players, want to come back and be a part of our program, if they're qualified and are quality people, it's awesome to bring them aboard because they're a big part of what we want to do here."

Alexander continued, "It all goes in line with bringing beck Tre Lamb, Taylor Hennigan, Bruce Hatfield, and now a guy like Cody – he wants to see our football program do well and he knows in order for that to happen, we need to do well academically. He knows how we want our guys to represent themselves on campus and in the classroom, so I couldn't be happier to see him join our academic team."

Taking over for Dexter is some pretty big shoes for Matthews to fill, but he's up for the challenge.

"Leveda is amazing," Matthews said. "She had great relationships with the players, not only with the ins and outs of academic advising, but also being someone you can rely upon if you wanted to make a career change, a major change. Those are things the position traditionally deals with. I think with my short experience already, I see that I can relate to the players very well, having been in their shoes. I know exactly the struggles they're going through.

"It's not an easy thing to be a student-athlete. Having someone there who can help you, help the student-athletes, is huge. I take this position with a lot of pride and it's extremely meaningful. I'm just thrilled."