A Sky-high Career

Lt. Col. Matt Horner, United States Air Force Academy; Sport Management Ph.D. '17

By Kelli Gemmer

The impact of FSU College of Education alumni reaches far and wide as graduates influence the future through their careers. For Sport Management alumnus Lt Col Matt Horner, that impact is training over 4,000 United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) cadets each year.

“My absolute favorite part of what I do now is interacting with cadets,” said Horner, who describes the cadets as wonderful people of very high caliber. Horner is the Associate Athletic Director and Department Head of the Department of Physical Education at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). In this role, he leads all department operations to provide cadets with a rigorous, world-class physical education and fitness program. This includes administering and assessing areas related to physical education, fitness testing, and athletic programs and providing coaching for intensive programs for physical conditioning.

Horner also adjuncts as an instructor in the Department of Management, where he teaches organizational behavior and leadership. “Our charge is to develop leaders of character that can serve the nation.”

Coming Full Circle

Horner has a strong military heritage, although he didn’t know that growing up. He was a competitive swimmer in high school and went on several college recruiting visits. One of those visits was to USAFA in Colorado Springs, where he is now stationed. Horner learned from a guidance counselor that the Air Force had a swim team. When he went on that specific visit, Horner felt something different. It was then that his family shared their military ties on both sides.

On his mother’s side, Horner’s grandfather served in the Polish Air Force and then the Royal Air Force, where he met Horner’s grandmother, who was in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during World War II. On his father’s side, everyone except for his dad served in the military in some form or fashion. “Those stories helped reinforce that option,” said Horner.

Horner giving a tour to the USAFA Superintendent and Command Chief, Lt Gen Richard Clark and CMSgt Randy Kwiatkowski

The recruiting trip also awakened a passion he hadn’t realized. “Service – just doing something that wasn’t all about me,” said Horner. “I sensed that as a 17-year-old on a recruiting trip.” In addition to his military heritage and passion for service, Horner was strongly influenced by the desire to fly. That decision to attend USAFA has turned into a 21-year career with the academy.

While he swam for four years at the academy, a new interest took flight for Horner during his undergraduate years in the Air Force: flying. For the first 10 years of hiscareer, he was a military pilot. “I flew C-17s and C-12s after pilot training, and I did all that in the Pacific,” said Horner. “I was stationed in Alaska and then Hawaii and in the Middle East and Japan as well.”

During that time, Horner received a bachelor’s degree in economics from USAFA and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the American Military University. In 2012, medical issues closed the door on his pilot career but sent him on a new path. Horner was able to pursue other interests that opened a new door for his career, a door that led him back to USAFA.

Horner found his home teaching in the Athletics Department at USAFA. Within a year and a half, he sought sponsorship to pursue his Ph.D., which led him to Florida State University.

A New Outlook

Horner wasn’t a stranger to FSU. In fact, he had visited the university on one of his college recruiting trips for swimming. “If it wasn’t the Air Force, it was going to be Florida State,” he said. “My twin sister went to Florida State. I didn’t do that in 1998, but I was able to come back as a student in 2013, which was pretty tremendous.”

With a background and career in physical education, Horner sought a program where he could find ways to leverage those skills in the Athletics Department, which was his sponsoring unit. For Horner, FSU’s Sport Management program was a great fit. “I was attracted to Florida State for a variety of reasons,” he said. “For sport management, it was a very prestigious program, and the faculty is premier.” He was also excited to get back to Florida, where he grew up.

Horner deployed to Kuwait as the Senior Duty Officer of the Air Defense Liaison Team

But what attracted him to the program early on was physical education and athletic leadership studies, which were listed as ongoing courses in the curriculum handbook. As an Associate Director who supervises 100 faculty, runs an intercollegiateboxing program which just won the 2023 National Collegiate Boxing Association Championship, and a 600,000 square foot cadet fitness center, Horner found the management piece very useful. “My focus area in the program was marketing and political economy, which is all about critical thinking.” Horner said it has proven useful in his career. “I’ve been able to more effectively access studies and research data to inform and direct decision-making.”

One of the most valuable lessons that Horner learned in the Sport Management program was intellectual curiosity and listening to other perspectives. “Having the ability to assimilate data and information from varied resources into an argument and engage is something that I developed more keenly at Florida State.” Horner said he uses this outlook every day. “It is the responsibility of me and this role that I am in right now and to be able to be competent and respectful,” he said. “To try to get better every day and connect with others where we can elevate the performance of the whole institution.”

Horner added that the environment of the FSU Sport Management program is one where individuals can flourish. “That was unbelievable; that was the true value of the program, so I’m very appreciative for that.” He added that FSU helped make him not only a better critical thinker, but a better leader, father, husband, and teammate.

Leading The Department

At USAFA, Horner interacts with the cadets through the physical education programs. His favorite touch point is with the cadets, where he can bring the unique outlook and lens he learned at Florida State to help develop these future leaders. USAFA is graduating cadets that can think critically and are capable and diverse, said Horner.

“It’s a highly regimented, rigorous intensive program, and we’re all about developing leaders of character through an intentional and integrated course of instruction,” said Horner. “We do that by simulating best practices throughout the nation and the world. My experience at Florida State is instrumental in that.”

For Horner, physical education is instrumental for cadet development in three ways. First is developing skills and knowledge that promote health and wellness over an individual’s career and life. Second is developing specific physical capabilities, and third is developing teamwork and leadership through intercollegiate and intramural competition. Psychosocial and emotional skills are developed through athletic participation, which helps build adaptability and moral and physical courage.

“We give cadets an opportunity to lead others in that environment,” said Horner. “We give them an opportunity to succeed, and we give them opportunities to fail so that they know what that’s like, and they develop a character where they’re resilient.”

Horner receiving the 2019 Outstanding Academy Educator Award from Superintendent, Lt Gen Jay Silveria

Horner also supervises nearly 100 faculty who he describes as tremendous leaders. These leaders are Olympic gold and silver medalists, world champions, and high-performing officers with deep subject matter expertise. He attributes much of his own leadership training to FSU’s Sport Management program. “I think that the program sets people up very well to be researchers and to be leaders in the field, whether it’s sport law or marketing or sociology or organizational behavior,” he said. “The training I had at Florida State is being well utilized in a management and leadership role.”

When reflecting on his time at FSU, Horner acknowledged not only the new outlook that he had learned but the people that contributed to his growth. “I really enjoyed my time there. The department was phenomenal. The people were truly extraordinary, led by my advisor Dr. Josh Newman who challenged me everyday to think more deeply and from different perspectives to develop my intellectual and analytical skills,” he said. “It really challenged the way I made sense of everything, and I think it made me better. My experience at Florida State was absolutely transformative.” Horner added that he was blown away by the amount of veteran support at FSU. “There’s a home for veterans at Florida State.”

Horner was selected for promotion to Colonel and will assume the role of Director of Staff and Commander for the USAFA Dean of Faculty in the fall 2023.