There was no panic for Becky Ponatowski when Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops was fired just a few days before her son, Matt, was scheduled to sign a football scholarship with the Wildcats.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound quarterback from Moeller High School in Cincinnati chose UK over Alabama, Arkansas and Oregon but also had a plethora of other big-time offers.
“No, there wasn’t any panic. He really maneuvered everything quite easily. Honestly, he kind of had that idea that coach (Will) Stein might get the job. He really liked the prior staff with coach (Bush) Hamden and coach but we all knew this could be a possibility,” said Becky Ponatoski. “So there wasn’t really much panic. It happened pretty quick. I looked at other people’s situations and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what are they going through?’
“Any of those schools where the coaches changed right before signing day, during the portal, or kind of last minute could create panic but ours worked out quite easily.”
Obviously it helped that Stein had recruited Matt Ponatoski when he was offensive coordinator at Oregon before he got the head coaching job at Kentucky. He had been to Moeller High School to meet with Matt and his father.
“He came back to one of Matt’s baseball games, which was really nice. We had dinner with him, and just had a great, great visit. It was really nice of him to come out to catch a baseball game and then right after the Elite 11 (quarterback competition in California) we made an official visit over to Oregon and met with him again.”
Stein and offensive coordinator Joe Sloan quickly let Ponatoski know he was a priority for them at Kentucky and they were fine with his plans to also play baseball at UK for coach Nick Mingione. He was the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year in both football and baseball his junior year to become only the third player in the award’s history to win in two different sports in the same school year in any state.
Becky Ponatoski texted Stein after he got the Kentucky job and appreciates the belief he has in her son.
“He talked about in his (introductory) press conference how he really wanted him at Oregon and I truly believe that. Just the family culture around coach Stein and the relationship building he does impressed me. An important thing for Matt is to have good relationships. They are similar in that way.
“He’s also such an offensive minded football guy. The things he’s been able to do with quarterbacks … it’s great to know that Matt will be in good hands.”
Major League Baseball scouts are monitoring his progress this season and he could be a high draft pick in June with the option perhaps of choosing professional baseball over college football even though he has insisted he wants to play in the SEC.
So is he a football player who plays baseball or a baseball player who plays football?
“That’s a hard one to say. It’s always been a baseball player who plays football, but I think he’s shown that he’s a football player too,” his mother said. “He loves them both. There are certain things you can’t turn down (with the draft) but at the same time what a great opportunity to play football and baseball both at Kentucky in the SEC. Time will tell and whatever path he takes will be the right path. He’s fortunate to have those options.”
He committed to play baseball at Missouri as an eighth-grader before deciding to open his recruitment to include football. The pitcher/infielder has been ranked as high as No. 16 in the 2026 recruiting class by Baseball America and his fastball has been timed at 97 miles per hour.
He completed 718 of 1,104 passes for 9,295 yards and 115 touchdowns with only 14 interceptions – nine came in 2023 – in three years at Moeller. His senior season he was 199 of 301 for 2,402 yards and 28 scores but as a junior he was 282 of 406 for 3,456 yards and 57 scores.
“Matt was very clear with everybody he spoke to in recruiting that he was going to do both sports in college and if that wasn’t something the school would allow, then he wasn’t going to be interested in that school,” Becky Ponatowski said.
