Michael Raymond Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
After finishing his playing career, Malthouse embarked on a distinguished coaching career with Footscray, West Coast, Collingwood and Carlton. He guided the Eagles to their first two AFL premierships in 1992 and 1994, and then led Collingwood to their 15th VFL/AFL premiership in 2010. Early in the 2015 AFL season, Malthouse broke the long-standing record held by legendary Collingwood coach Jock McHale for the most VFL/AFL senior games coached, eventually finishing with 718 over 31 seasons.
Since the end of his coaching career, Malthouse has continued his involvement in football through his media commitments, especially with ABC Radio.
Malthouse was born in Ballarat, Victoria, to Ray Malthouse, a local plasterer, and his wife Marie (née Canty), the year after their marriage. He also has a younger sister, Gerardine.
Recruited from North Ballarat, Malthouse started his football career with St Kilda in 1972, playing 53 senior games including three finals. After being told by then-senior coach Allan Jeans that he would struggle to get a game in the senior side due to a surfeit of similar-skilled players, he departed for Richmond midway through the 1976 season.
At Richmond, Malthouse played 121 senior games, including six finals and the runaway premiership win over Collingwood in the 1980 Grand Final. He was noted for being a tough and solid defender. In 1982 Malthouse managed to play every game of the home-and-away season for the first time in his career, only to suffer a dislocated shoulder in the lead-up to the Grand Final. He missed out on the game after not passing a gruelling fitness test. He retired in 1983.
After Ian Hampshire unexpectedly quit as Footscray senior coach in early January, Malthouse decided to return from holiday with his family after hearing about the sudden vacancy on the radio. He was approached by club officials and on 13 January was officially appointed senior coach of Footscray for the next two seasons. Having only recently retired from playing, Malthouse had not been expecting to become a senior VFL coach so soon after, although he had harboured intentions to coach at some level. Nonetheless, he was able to lay out his basic philosophy:
My plans are all orientated on a team game. [...] I'm not looking for individual performances: I'm looking for consistency and at players who can coordinate off and on the field — particularly on the field.
During his time at the Bulldogs he was known for his tough stance on many players, including Doug Hawkins. The team's final standings in his years in charge were 7th (1984), 3rd (1985), 8th (1986), 7th (1987), 8th (1988) and 13th (1989). He impressed with his dedication and professionalism. Malthouse left the financially stricken club at the end of 1989, weeks before it announced its intentions to merge with Fitzroy; the merger never ultimately went ahead due to a supporter fightback, and Malthouse was criticised by his assistant coach Terry Wheeler for not sticking by his club during its time of need. Wheeler then replaced Malthouse as Footscray Football Club senior coach.
Malthouse then replaced John Todd as West Coast Eagles senior coach, at the end of the 1989 season, after Todd was sacked when the Eagles struggled and finished eleventh on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. For ten years from 1990, he was senior coach for the West Coast Eagles. In 1991, the Eagles won their first 12 games of the season and finished minor premiers for the first time in the club's history with 19 wins, one of few teams in VFL/AFL to go through the entire home-and-away season on top of the ladder. They were granted a home Qualifying Final against Hawthorn, marking the first AFL final to be played interstate. In one of the boilovers of the season, Hawthorn weathered the best the Eagles threw at them in the first quarter and eventually ran out winners by 23 points. As a consequence, the Eagles would have to make three consecutive trips to Waverley Park to get to the Grand final. During his tenure as senior coach of the West Coast Eagles, the club under Malthouse made the finals every year, including 1992 and 1994 premierships and 1991 grand finalists as runners-up. Final minor premiership ladder positions were 3rd, 1st, 4th, 6th, 1st, 5th, 4th, 5th, 7th and 5th (1990–1999).
At the end of the 1999 season, Malthouse stepped down as West Coast Eagles senior coach and was replaced by Ken Judge as West Coast Eagles senior coach.
Recruited to the Magpies by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, Malthouse replaced Tony Shaw as Collingwood senior coach following Shaw's resignation after the club finished last on the ladder (16th), claiming the wooden spoon for the 1999 season. Malthouse coached Collingwood to the finals in eight out of his twelve seasons in charge including grand final appearances in 2002, 2003, 2010 (twice) and 2011.
In Malthouse's first season as Collingwood Football Club senior coach in the 2000 season, Collingwood finished fifteenth (second-last) on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. In the 2001 season, Collingwood under Malthouse just missed out on the finals, where they finished ninth on the ladder with eleven wins and eleven losses.
In the 2002 season, Malthouse guided Collingwood to the 2002 AFL Grand Final but fell short and lost to the Brisbane Lions by a margin of nine points, where the final score was Brisbane Lions 10.15 (75) to Collingwood 9.12 (66).
In the 2003 season, Malthouse again guided Collingwood to the 2003 AFL Grand Final but lost for the second year in a row, again to Brisbane, this time by a margin of 50 points, where the final score was Brisbane Lions 20.14 (134) to Collingwood 12.12 (84).
In the 2004 season, Collingwood's on-field performance under Malthouse dropped when they finished thirteenth with eight wins and fourteen losses. In the 2005 season, Collingwood went from bad to worse when they finished fifteenth (second-last) on the ladder with five wins and seventeen losses.
In the 2006 season, Collingwood under Malthouse returned to the finals series after finishing fifth on the ladder, but were defeated in the elimination final by Western Bulldogs by 41 points. In the 2007 season, Collingwood made the finals again, but were eliminated by the eventual premiers Geelong in the preliminary final by five points. In the 2008 season, Collingwood returned to the finals but were eliminated by St Kilda in the semi-final by 34 points.
In July 2009, Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire produced a succession plan in which Malthouse was to hand over the coaching reins to club legend and assistant coach Nathan Buckley at the end of the 2011 season. Also in the 2009 season, Collingwood under Malthouse made the finals again but were eliminated by the eventual premiers Geelong in the preliminary final by seventy-three points.