Sports
Former Marian Catholic Standout Marable Happy to See Dave Mattio Reach Football Coaching Milestone
What's he doing now? Marian's all-time leading rusher, Terence Marable, played at Illinois before joining the working world.
Marian Catholic football coach Dave Mattio earned his 250th career victory Friday when the Spartans defeated Bloom 21-13.
One person certainly not surprised by the impressive accomplishment is 1994 Marian graduate Terence Marable, who helped the Spartans win a state championship in 1993.
“I love Dave Mattio,” Marable said. “Being a young man, I very much enjoyed playing for him and having him mentor us. He was a great leader for the team, and I can’t say enough about him. I enjoyed the time I got to play under his tutelage.”
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Mattio, who has coached Marian since 1976, has a career record of 250-133 in 36 seasons.
He played a role in Marable earning a scholarship to the University of Illinois.
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Marable was highly recruited out of high school after becoming Marian’s all-time leading rusher, but his time at Illinois didn’t go exactly as planned.
“Looking back at college, I have a lot of mixed emotions starting with my decision to go to Illinois,” Marable said. “It’s hard to have any regrets about my decision, and I don’t, because I met my wife in college. I’m very content with where I’m at now.
"At the time, I really didn’t watch college football and didn’t know enough to make a decision about where I would best fit. What I did know was Illinois started recruiting me when I was a sophomore, which meant a lot to me.”
Marable was recruited as a running back, but spent most of his time with the Illini as a defensive back.
“(Current Kansas State assistant head coach and defensive coordinator) Chris Cosh was the linebackers coach at Illinois at the time, and he was the main reason I went to Illinois," Marable said. "Then, he left about a year and half later and things changed.
"There were a lot of things I was not terribly pleased with at Illinois, but at the end of the day, it didn’t have much of an impact on me athletically.”
Marable has been a certified financial planner with Ameriprise Financial in Oakbrook Terrace since May after working at Morgan Stanley for four years.
