Matt Thompson
SRU Class of 1998 / SRU Soccer Ring of Honor 2013
MATT THOMPSON, currently the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at the University of District of Columbia, excelled as both a men’s soccer student-athlete and coach at The Rock.
As a student-athlete, Thompson was a two-time PSAC All-Conference selection, a three-time Western Pennsylvania All-Star, two-time team captain and was named the team’s most valuable player in 1997.
After serving three seasons as an assistant coach at Division I Robert Morris University, Thompson returned to The Rock as head coach in 2002. The 1998 SRU graduate guided the Green and White to PSAC championships in 2005 and 2009, three berths in the NCAA Division II tournament, including Sweet 16 appearances in 2008 and 2009, when his squad collected a school-record 18 wins.
In recognition of his leadership efforts, Thompson was named as the PSAC Coach of the Year in 2005, 2008 and 2009.
Thompson left SRU in 2009 to become the head coach at Lees-McRae College, where he led the Bobcats to a 13-5-3 record, Conference Carolinas regular-season and tournament titles and a berth in the NCAA Division II tournament.
One year later, Thompson was named as UDC’s head coach in May 2011 and has led the Firebirds to a 14-14-6 cumulative win-loss records in two seasons after serving one season as head coach at The Rock.
Aside from his coaching duties, Thompson has been extremely active in community engagement. He helped found SRU Athletes for Forgotten Angels, a student-athlete group aimed at improving the quality of underprivileged children’s lives around the world. Thompson led a missionary trip to Haiti in the summer of 2008 and volunteered in New Orleans during the summer of 2009, painting houses and coaching children after Hurricane Katrina. Thompson was also involved in Special Olympics of Pennsylvania while serving as SRU’s head coach.
Thompson and his wife, Danielle, live in suburban Washington, D.C. and are the parents of two sons, Liam and Joshua, both of which are following in their father’s footsteps as active soccer players.
