{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreig2ag6fttxlerkjdmi7pfp66w75mdkaepho25amviv5vjbjygzpku",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:sh6iia5zxy3oqxgyrxnlf23i/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmsaeyl7ivh2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreibnmi2yjb4m4mcdfdxzyhmfqpbzrhf2aek4m2ktl7rk7azcc6yasi"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 725269
  },
  "path": "/hillsdale-blog/writers/doug-goodnough/mission-fit/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-26T13:36:19.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.hillsdale.edu",
  "tags": [
    "Doug Goodnough",
    "Hillsdale Alumni Newsletter",
    "Mission Fit: Rodgers Brings Career Experience to Alma Mater",
    "Hillsdale College"
  ],
  "textContent": "#### Written by Doug Goodnough\n\nIn describing men’s tennis at Hillsdale College in the late 1990s, Matt Rodgers, ’00, said his team could be summed up in one word: Underdogs. A program with no athletic scholarships had to compete in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with powerhouse programs like Ferris State and Wayne State. However, Rodgers said the Chargers thrived on being underestimated.\n\n“We were all walk-ons,” Rodgers said. “It was not a very developed program at the time. We were just a ragtag group of guys who loved to play tennis.”\n\nRodgers, who enrolled at Hillsdale after a standout high school career in Marshall, Michigan, said he enjoyed his time on the court.\n\n“It was a case of being the underdogs and coming and fighting against these guys who are going to school to play tennis,” said Rodgers, who played both singles and doubles for the Chargers. “We didn’t go to school to play tennis. [We played] merely for the love of the sport and hanging out with the guys.”\n\nGeorge Roche IV was the head coach when Rodgers arrived at Hillsdale, but Olds Residence house director Sue Abel took over during his final two seasons. Rodgers said her competitiveness rubbed off on her players.\n\n“We’ve got this adorable little 4-foot-10 lady leading us, and I think she had more fire in her than most of those other guys did,” Rodgers said of his coach, who also served as a longtime residence hall director for the College. “She was more intimidating sometimes than the guys we were going to play.”\n\nA history major who was in the teacher education program, Rodgers said he passed up his senior season to student teach and coach high school tennis at nearby Hillsdale High School.\n\n“We weren’t just majoring in education. We were majoring in a subject matter that we would be experts in, and then adding teaching to that,” said Rodgers, who was also active in the theatre program. “I think that was a really interesting approach.”\n\nAfter graduation, teaching jobs were difficult to find, so Rodgers accepted a position with a supply chain manufacturer. As the global sourcing coordinator for a company that manufactured and imported hydraulic fittings for John Deere and Caterpillar, he said his liberal arts education helped him adapt to his career change. Rodgers eventually earned his master’s degree in supply chain management from Michigan State University and went on to lead a team at Consumers Energy.\n\n“I loved to teach. I just couldn’t find the right opening at the right time and needed a job, and then it went from there,” he said of his career path. “What I’ve really loved about the positions that I’ve had, especially in leadership, is that I’m still able to do teaching activities in the form of mentoring.”\n\nThat experience eventually brought him back to Hillsdale College. In 2025 he accepted a position as a senior analyst in the College’s Continuous Improvement Department. Rodgers said the return to Hillsdale has been a “mission fit.”\n\n“I saw the opportunity to come to a place that I knew and loved with a mission that I agreed with,” he said. “When you see the tagline, ‘Work for Good,’ that’s what I was interested in doing. I could take some of those skills and experiences that I’ve had in the corporate and business world, come to Hillsdale, and help in whatever way I can.”\n\nRodgers still lives in Marshall with his wife, Sara (Goedde), ’00, and their five children: Samuel (21), Margaret (19), John Paul (17), Cecilia (15), and Gus (9). With their two oldest in college at Alabama and Western Michigan, respectively, Rodgers said he hopes some of his younger children can one day attend Hillsdale.\n\n“It’s been really great to see all of the progress that’s being made on campus,” he said. “I can see with all the improvements, it’s going to be even better for the next generation. I still get that nostalgic feeling about campus but also feel great pride seeing how far it’s come since I was a student.”\n\nWith daughter Cecilia a budding high school tennis player, Rodgers said he recently has jumped back into the sport to help coach and train her. He still prefers playing singles but enjoys coaching doubles.\n\n“That created a renewed fire in me for the sport—wanting to coach, wanting to teach, and wanting to help out in that way,” he said. “That’s been a really great connection for the family.”\n\n* * *\n\nDoug Goodnough, '90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.\n\n* * *\n\nPublished in May 2026\n\nThe post Mission Fit: Rodgers Brings Career Experience to Alma Mater appeared first on Hillsdale College.",
  "title": "Mission Fit: Rodgers Brings Career Experience to Alma Mater"
}