Slippery Rock University Athletics

Michael Bonelli will begin his fourth season as The Rock's head coach in 2013, following an impressive chase for the PSAC title in 2012.

Slippery Rock made a postseason run under Bonelli at the end of the 2012 year that saw them defeat nationally-ranked Gannon twice in one week, both times in Erie, as well as defeating Millersville to advance to the PSAC title match at Mercyhurst. The Lakers edged The Rock 1-0 with a late goal in the title game.

Slippery Rock finished the 2012 season with an 11-4-6 overall record, setting a program record for the most ties in a single season. It marked the second time in three years that Bonelli has guided the team to the PSAC playoffs.

In his first season at Slippery Rock, Bonelli guided his team to a record of 11-7-1 and a No. 3 ranking in the Atlantic Region. The Rock advanced to the semifinals of the PSAC Tournament before falling to Shippensburg.

Bonelli coached one Daktronics All-American, three NSCAA All-Region honorees and three First Team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference selections in 2010. He followed that up with his first All-America selection in 2012 when Josh Gray was named an Honorable Mention All-American.

The team suffered a setback with a host of injuries in 2011, finishing the year 7-8-2 overall and missing the conference playoffs.

The Slippery Rock job marks the first collegiate head coaching position for Bonelli, who spent the five seasons before he was hired as an assistant coach at the Division I level.

Bonelli served as an assistant at Wright State last season, where he helped lead the Division I Raiders to a 6-10-1 overall record and a 2-5-1 mark in the Horizon League.

Prior to his time at WSU, Bonelli served two seasons as an assistant coach at Northwestern University (Division I, Big Ten), helping the Wildcats to a Top-10 ranking each of his seasons on campus.

The Wildcats opened the 2007 campaign with a 7-0-1 mark en route to a No. 3 national ranking, the school's highest ever. After NU posted a 12-5-3 mark in 2007, Bonelli helped lead NU to the program's best record in 2008, 15-5-3, as well as an appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight.

In addition, Bonelli contributed to the success of the 2008 season with a Top-25 nationally-ranked recruiting class, according to College Soccer News. NU was ranked No. 8 in the final College Soccer News Poll. In the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats defeated Horizon League opponent Loyola and downed nationally-ranked Notre Dame and Akron before falling to eventual national runner-up North Carolina. NU finished the season with a top-ten RPI ranking for the second straight campaign and concluded the best two-year stretch in program history with a 27-10-6 mark between 2007 and 2008.

Before his two seasons in the Big Ten, Bonelli spent two years on the sidelines as an assistant at Lafayette College (Division I, Patriot League), helping lead the team to a Patriot League title and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005. In 2006, Lafayette followed up on its championship season with another trip to the Patriot League finals, narrowly missing a return trip to the NCAA tournament, falling on penalty kicks in the conference finals. In 2005 and 2006, the Leopards compiled a 24-9-4 record, which ranks among the best two-year records in school history.

Bonelli made his collegiate coaching debut as an assistant coach at Division III Gettysburg College in 2004, where helped lead the team to 9-7-1 record while handling all recruiting efforts and assisting with all other aspects of the program.

Bonelli’s only other head coaching experience came as the head coach at McGraw High School in McGraw, N.Y. He coached one season, leading the team to a 16-2-1 overall record and an unblemished 11-0-1 conference record en route to winning the school’s first league title.

Bonelli earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from SUNY-Cortland in 2004. Before graduating from Cortland, he attended and played soccer at Norwich University, where he helped lead the team to its first Great North Atlantic Conference Championship as an outside midfielder in 1999. Norwich earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament that season, also a first for the program.

Bonelli owns a United States Soccer Federation “A” License as well as a National Soccer Coaches Association of America Advanced National Diploma. He will officially begin his duties at SRU in late June.