Whenever the GPS said to turn right, Carl Mattei went AWOL. If ever the fates sent him west on Arapahoe Road, Mattei resumed his private, personal war, the one he’s had with Google Maps for about three years running.
“I’ve probably only driven by the place once (since 2021),” the esteemed Denver East girls basketball coach and longtime former Regis Jesuit boss, told me Thursday with a rueful chuckle.
Because no matter what directions came over that speaker, Mattei made a point to dodge that familiar right turn off Arapahoe, the one onto Lewiston, the way the Broncos have dodged the postseason.
He’s done U-turns. He’s gone in circles. He’s taken detours that left Siri booping, pinging and seething with confusion. Anything to avoid that old road home. The one that runs past the movie theater, behind 2nd and Charles, and up to the house he’d basically built from scratch roughly two decades earlier.
“I’ve been avoiding that intersection at all costs,” Mattei admitted, “to not even bring up a memory. It’s too painful.”
Alas, on Friday, after years of losing battles, Google’s finally going to win the war. Mattei’s got no choice but to hit Lewiston Way tomorrow, when his current team, East (16-8) visits his old stomping grounds, Regis Jesuit (17-7), where he’d coached for 17 seasons, in a game that’ll decide a spot in the CHSAA 6A girls basketball Great 8.
“To walk in, and see the banners of all the state championships and the league championship banners, it’ll be a sense of — I’ll go, ‘OK, I’m living this,’” Mattei laughed. “It’s like a Rudy Carey, a Dick Kotte … (I’d said), ‘I’ll never go back in that gym unless CHSAA’s making me go in.’ Like, I’ve moved on. I have no interest at all.”
While the wounds have healed, the cuts run deep. The scars linger. Mattei won 399 games at Regis, a program he founded, leading the Raiders to eight state finals and back-to-back 5A crowns in 2014 and ’15.
In August 2021, a few months after steering Regis to another 5A title game, principal Jimmy Tricco told him his services were no longer required. At the time, Tricco cited a “growing lack of alignment with (Regis) leadership regarding the vision for the program and its support of the school’s mission.”
Mattei hasn’t spoken at length to the man since. Nor does he want to litigate the past, even if he has to relive a painful divorce.
“I’ll be interesting to see him (Friday),” Mattei said. “There was no love lost, apparently. It’s his school. And his decision.
“The whole thing is, this is Denver East. This is my team. I’ve gotten to know these kids well and the staff well and the school well. And the hurt is gone. People say, ‘Time heals all wounds.’ Well I think, at the same time, when you’re let go from a position, at first, you’re like, ‘Why?’ And then as time goes on, it’s like, ‘OK, I had a great (run).’
“It’ll be different. Going to the locker room, it’ll be different. Just going to the opposite bench, not walking across the floor and going to the opposite bench, will be interesting.”
The trick is to not get lost — in your emotions as much as anything else. Regis’ current coach, Jordan Kasemodel, was a key cog on Mattei’s staff in 2017, when she was named WBCA Assistant of the Year. Mattei coached Raiders senior stars Hana Belibi and Coryn Watts when they were freshmen. If your heart didn’t do a triple salchow seeing so many familiar faces, you wouldn’t be human.
“It’s going to be weird to see the growth in those two young ladies — you go back and now they’re 18 years old,” Mattei said. “I loved both those kids. I really did. It’ll be tough to go against them.”
He’ll counter with guard Jenessee Byrd, who’s averaged 13.3 points, 4.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game since transferring over from Rangeview. He’ll lean on a front line of four East players listed at 6-foot-1 or taller, led by 6-4 post Mairead Hearty, who averaged a double-double during the regular season.
“We’re No. 23 for what CHSAA has us (seeded),” Mattei said of his Angels, who went to 10th-seeded Fruita on Tuesday and held the home side to a season low in points (32). “In terms of these kids walking in with confidence, we’ve got a pretty upbeat group. We’re not going in with the (mindset) of a 23 (seed) who (just) pulled off an upset.”
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Friday’s not the time for nostalgia. Or the place. Besides, they’re having a 10-year reunion for Jesuit’s 2014 Raiders squad, the one that was ranked third nationally, arguably the best team Mattei ever coached, on March 28 at Elway’s.
“I’m not there to get honored,” Mattei said, laughing again. “I’m going there to get my (tail) kicked by Regis.”
That old intersection looms, the one he’s avoided for all those months. The comforts figure to be cold and few for East on Friday afternoon, save for one: When it comes to pulling shockers along Lewiston, Mattei already knows the way.
“I’m hoping we can go back there and maybe reminisce for 12 seconds, because of the joys we had,” he said. “I was there 17 years. It was some of the greatest times in my life.”
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