Lourdes University

Lourdes University Athletics
6832 Convent Blvd Sylvania, OH 43560

NAIA Ohio Midwest

Private Small Competitive team

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Coaches

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Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson was named the second head coach in the Lourdes University men's soccer program's history in February of 2019.

Johnson enters 2023, his fifth season at the helm of the Gray Wolves, with a 30-37-6 record at Lourdes. He is 105-121-14 overall entering his 14th season as a collegiate head coach.

In 2020, Johnson led Lourdes to a fourth place finish in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, the highest in program history. The Gray Wolves also hosted a WHAC tournament match for the first time. Lourdes won nine matches that season, setting a new school record, a mark that was then equaled in 2021.

Over his first four seasons at Lourdes, Johnson produced the first First Team All-WHAC selection in program history. In addition, he has guided two Second Team All-WHAC honorees as well as three WHAC All-Newcomer Team selections. He has had 10 players earn WHAC Player of the Week honors during his time on the bench as well.

In the classroom, 20 Lourdes players have been named to the WHAC All-Academic Team while 19 players also garnered NAIA Scholar-Athlete accolades under his watch. Three times his program has been named a NAIA Scholar Team.

No stranger to the WHAC, Johnson spent nine seasons at Marygrove College prior to his arrival at Lourdes.

In Marygrove’s six seasons in the WHAC during his tenure, his teams included six players that were named First Team All-WHAC, two Second Team All-WHAC selections, and four Honorable Mention All-WHAC honorees. In addition, Johnson had produced the WHAC Newcomer of the Year in 2012. He also had eight different athletes earn WHAC Player of the Week accolades.

Johnson’s teams had success in the classroom as well, as 13 players were named to the WHAC All-Academic Team during the six seasons in the conference.

Johnson has also spent time as a youth coach with the Michigan Wolves-Hawks Soccer Club, including the US Development Academy teams at the U12, U17, and U19 age levels.

A standout player in his own right, Johnson played with the Detroit Ignition, a professional team in the Major Indoor Soccer League and Xtreme Soccer League. He was an assistant coach and player from 2006-2008 before becoming the head coach in 2008-2009. He also played professionally for the San Diego Sockers, Cleveland Force, Utah Freezz, and Chicago Storm.

Johnson is a 1999 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, with a B.A. degree in political science.

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Matty Brown

Matty Brown was named an assistant coach for the Lourdes University men’s soccer program in August of 2022 and joined the women’s program as an assistant coach during the summer of 2023.

In his first season on the bench of the men’s program, Brown helped produce a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Player of the Week. The men also had six players named to the WHAC All-Academic Team as well as six honored as NAIA Scholar-Athletes. The program also had three College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team selections

Brown arrived at Lourdes from Spring Arbor University, where he was an assistant coach and head reserve coach for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The 2020 squad qualified for the NAIA National Championships, but its opening round match was cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols.

Prior to Spring Arbor, Brown was an assistant coach for two seasons at the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) where he began his collegiate coaching career.

Brown also serves as the head soccer coach for Livonia FC, a position he began in 2021.

A four-year player at Spring Arbor during his collegiate days, Brown scored a goal and added two assists over his career with the Cougars.

Brown is a 2017 graduate of Spring Arbor with a degree in broadcast journalism.

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Haider Alzayadi

Haider Alzayadi joined the Lourdes men’s soccer staff as a graduate assistant prior to the 2023 season.

Alzayadi has played semi-professional soccer for the last seven years with Michigan Stars FC and spent three years with Sporting Michigan. A four-year letterwinner at Marygrove College, he holds the program’s all-time assist record.

Alzayadi was born and raised in a refugee camp between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It was at the camp where he developed a strong passion for soccer while playing with the other kids prior to he and his family immigrating to the United States to seek a better life and a land to call home.

A 2017 graduate of Marygrove with a B.S. in biology, he also earned a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies from Lourdes in 2022. He is now working on his master’s degree in nursing at Lourdes.