Matt Bauer one win away from Exeter coaching milestone
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
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A win Friday over New Oxford will make Matt Bauer the winningest football coach in Exeter history.
Few might have predicted that when he was named Eagles head coach following the 2008 season, which saw the Eagles finish 0-10 for the second straight season.
Exeter fans saw a ray of light the next season when Bauer won the season-opener against Lower Merion, snapping a 21-game losing streak. That was the first of 123 wins under Bauer over the last 16 seasons. One more will see him pass Don Thomas as the Eagles’ winningest coach.
Bauer tied Thomas last week as Exeter opened the District 3 Class 5A Tournament with a 56-3 win over South Western. The eighth-seeded Eagles (10-1) play the unbeaten and top-seeded Colonials at New Oxford in the quarterfinals Friday.
Bauer’s first Exeter team didn’t win again in that 2009 season but the program quickly made progress. The Eagles improved from one win to four in 2010 and went 7-3 the following season, qualifying for the district tournament for the first time in 13 years.
That started a string of nine straight district playoff appearances, longest in school history. It was stopped in 2020 when District 3 truncated its playoff fields, leaving the 6-2 Eagles out of the field. They have made it back every year since.
Exeter has enjoyed 14 consecutive winning seasons; the program had never enjoyed more than seven in a row before Bauer’s arrival.
The Eagles have won a pair of league titles under Bauer, in 2015 and 2022, and earned the greatest win in program history when they beat Gov. Mifflin 28-24 for the District 3 Class 5A championship in 2021. The Mustangs, led by Penn State-bound Nick Singleton, were unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the state at the time.
The following year the Eagles set a program record with 12 wins and returned to the district championship game before seeing their season end against Cocalico.
This season marks the third time in four years Exeter has won 10 or more games, and the fourth time overall under Bauer.
The previous record for wins was nine, by Thomas’ 1967 and 1970 Inter-County League championship teams, which went unbeaten. There were no district playoffs in that era, so most seasons were limited to nine or 10 games. The Eagles won two league titles under Thomas.
Bauer earned his 100th victory in 2022 against Muhlenberg, his alma mater.
Thomas coached the Eagles from their second varsity season in 1959 to 1982, after which he retired as coach to become the school’s athletic director. The stadium was later named in his honor.
Thomas went 123-99-6 over 24 seasons.
No other Exeter football coach has won more than 51 games or coached longer than nine seasons.
Bauer ranks No. 10 on Berks’ all-time coaching victory list, tied with Thomas; he’s also tied for No. 10 in terms of service time. His .683 winning percentage is the best in program history and 11th-highest in Berks history.
Bauer was a tight end at Muhlenberg and the University of New Hampshire and was an assistant coach at Exeter and Gov. Mifflin before being hired as Eagles head coach.
Berks’ winningest football coaches
| Bob Wolfrum | Wyomissing Area | 1987-2024 | 370-91-1 |
| Rick Keeley | Holy Name/Hamb./Berks Catholic | 1986-2023 | 280-160-3 |
| Doug Dahms | Wilson | 2006-24 | 194-43 |
| Mick Vecchio | Gov. Mifflin | 1991-95, ‘97 | 181-115-1 |
| John Yocum | Muhlenberg | 1989-2008 | 167-50-4 |
| John Gurski | Wilson | 1964-82 | 151-44 |
| Ray Linn | West Reading/Gov. Mifflin | 1951-54, ‘56-73, ‘85-87 | 151-82-7 |
| Alan Moyer | Conrad Weiser | 2003-24 | 148-95 |
| Gerry Slemmer | Wilson | 1983-97 | 129-42 |
| Matt Bauer | Exeter | 2009-24 | 123-57 |
| Don Thomas | Exeter | 1959-82 | 123-99-6 |
| Al Silveri | Conrad Weiser | 1988-2002 | 102-60-2 |
| Jack Paris | Wyomissing/Gov. Mifflin | 1974-86, ‘88-90 | 89-67-5 |
| Ron Zeiber | Exeter/Boyertown | 1993-2007 | 89-75 |
| Andy Stopper | Reading High | 1947-61 | 87-74-7 |
| Steve Hydock | Central Catholic | 1950-64 | 82-44-5 |
| Dave Bodolus | Daniel Boone | 2003-11 | 79-28 |
| Charlie Gebensleben | Wyomissing High | 1951-66 | 79-45-6 |
| Ferdie Kuczala | Conrad Weiser | 1969-82 | 76-56-1 |