Matt Mott enters his third season as the head soccer coach at the University of Oklahoma in 2025.Ā
Mott has recruited and coached six All-Americans, 20 all-region selections, 25 all-conference recipients, one SEC Freshman of the Year, six all-freshman team members and 26 conference players-of-the-week throughout his 15-year head coaching career. Six of Mottās athletes have gone on to be selected in the National Womenās Soccer League amateur draft.
His clubs have made one NCAA Sweet Sixteen, six NCAA Tournament appearances and 10 conference tournament appearances. At the NCAA Tournament, Mott has advanced past the first round in four of his six trips, owning a 3-5-4 career postseason mark with a 3-1 record in PKs.
Mottās work with goalkeepers has produced three SEC Goalkeeper of the Year honors, each of which were earned by future NWSL fourth-round pick and Ole Miss career clean sheet leader Ashley Orkus. His back lines and keepers have generated 94 clean sheets and a 75.2% save percentage, posting at least eight shutouts in five of his 15 seasons while posting a save percentage of 76% or better eight times.
Academic success has long been a pillar of Mottās programs. Across his 15 years as a head coach, Mott has guided his student-athletes to earn five COSIDA/CSC Academic All-America honors, 26Ā academic all-district selections and a whopping 281 academic all-conference and honor roll recipients. Eight of his 13 seasons at Ole Miss saw at least 20 athletes earn SEC Academic Honor Roll status including five consecutive seasons from 2017 to 2021. In his first season at Oklahoma, a program-record six Sooners earned CSC Academic All-District accolades while 13 earned Academic All-Big 12 notice, second-most in program history.
The Sooners reached double-digit wins in 2024 during Mott's second season leading the Sooners, the first double-digit victory season since the 2016 campaign. Mott reached 150 career victories with a 4-1 win against Oral Roberts Aug. 25, while another milestone came Sept. 22 when he coached the Sooners to a 2-1 win at Texas A&M for the program's first-ever SEC victory. Oklahoma finished the season on a high note, winning the last two league games with a 4-1 win against Ole Miss and a 1-0 victory against Florida in Gainesville.
The Oklahoma attack was record setting in 2024, with the Sooners scoring a program single season-record 38 times. The Oklahoma fans showed out for the high-scoring Sooners, with over 12,000 fans making their way to John Crain Field en route to an OU all-time season attendance record. The honors and records continued at the individual level as Leonie Weber and Cailey England both set individual career records. Weber finished her OU career with a record 19 assists and five penalty kick goals, while England set program records with 92 starts and 7,786 minutes played. Ella Pappas was tabbed ot the TopDrawerSoccer Women's Team of the Week after contributing four goals in OU's 15-goal weekend. Six Sooners earned CSC Academic All-District honors in the postseason, while Alexis Washington earned a spot on the United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Team.Ā
Oklahoma produced an 8-10-2 mark in Mottās first season at the helm, earning 11 points in conference play (3-5-2) to finish tied for ninth in the Big 12 table. OU took significant steps forward possessing and creating in the attacking third, scoring the seventh-most goals per match (1.70) in the Big 12 on the leagueās third-most shots on target per match (7.00). The Sooners improved their shot-on-target percentage by nearly 2%, placing 47.5% of their shots on frame. Oklahomaās creativity under Mott shined as OU generated its most assists (30) since the 2005 season.
Defensively, Oklahomaās back line limited opponents to a program-record 10.35 shots against per match on its way to recording five clean sheets. OUās five shutouts marked the programās most since 2016. The Sooners also dramatically reduced their cards received, taking just 14 yellows and zero reds after receiving 38 and two respectively the season prior.
The 2023 Sooners advanced past the Big 12 tournamentās opening round for just the sixth time in program history, defeating Oklahoma State in the first round. OU earned a 2-0 result over Texas during the regular season, its first win over the Longhorns in regulation since 2005. Graduate forward Emma Hawkins was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 23, becoming the first Sooner to earn a weekly honor since 2021, and became the only OU athlete to record two career hat tricks with three-goal efforts vs. Tulsa and Murray State.
University of Oklahoma Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione announced in April 2023 Matt Mott as OUās head soccer coach. Mottās appointment at OU followed a highly successful run the last 13 seasons as head coach at Ole Miss.
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Mott coached the Rebels to a 139-97-32 (.578) record and to six of the programās 10 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, including four of the last six years. He led Ole Miss to a winning record and to the SEC Tournament in 10 of the last 11 seasons, going 124-78-27 (.600) during the stretch.
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Four of the Rebelsā six NCAA Tournament appearances under Mott resulted in at least one win, with the 2015 and 2020 squads advancing to the Sweet 16. Eleven of his 13 teams featured at least two players who each scored at least six goals in a season.
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Mott coached his Ole Miss players to six All-America honors, 20 all-region awards, 25 All-SEC laurels, six SEC All-Freshman picks and five Academic All-America selections, and had five players drafted into the NWSL professional ranks. He has produced some of Ole Missās best all-time talent, including the top three scorers in program history in CeCe Kizer (48 goals from 2015-18), Channing Foster (44 goals from 2017-21) and Rafaelle Souza (44 goals from 2011-13), as well as the schoolās all-time shutouts leader, goalkeeper Ashley Orkus (29 shutouts from 2019-22).
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Mott led the Rebels to winning records each of the last six seasons and to double-digit victories in six of the last seven campaigns. His 2022 squad began the season with a 9-0-2 record, good for the best 11-game start in program history.
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Before becoming just the second Ole Miss head coach in program history, Mott was the top assistant at the University of Texas from 2006-10, helping the Longhorns to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including back-to-back Sweet 16s in 2006 and 2007. UTās 2007 squad reached a No. 1 national ranking. Working with the goalkeepers and defenders, Mott helped guide Texas to a school record for lowest goals-against average (0.64) in 2008 and to several other defensive records during his tenure.
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Prior to his Texas stint, Mott served as an assistant at Auburn from 1999-2005. He was promoted from assistant coach to assistant head coach to associate head coach during his time at the school and helped the Tigers to four consecutive SEC West titles and four straight NCAA Tournaments from 2001-04. He was named the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2002 when Auburn claimed the SEC overall championship. As Auburnās recruiting coordinator, Mott helped the Tigers ink six nationally ranked signing classes and helped develop several players to All-SEC and All-America stature.
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Mott also served as an assistant coach at UCF, his alma mater, for four years (1995-98). While Mott was in Orlando, the Golden Knights won three Trans Atlantic Athletic Conference championships and earned an NCAA Tournament berth in 1998.
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Before UCF, Mott was the head womenās coach at NCAA Division III Hilbert College in Hamburg, N.Y., where he became the programās all-time wins leader during his tenure from 1991-94. He was also the goalkeepers coach for the menās team at Hilbert during that time.
A Norwood, N.Y., native, Mott obtained a bachelorās degree in general studies (minored in criminal justice) from UCF in 2000 and also earned an Associate of Science degree in 1994 from Erie Community College in Buffalo, N.Y. Before college, Mott spent four years in the U.S. Coast Guard where he played and coached with the Coast Guardās select team in Portsmouth, Va.
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Mott holds a National āBā Coaching License from the United States Soccer Federation. In addition to his college coaching positions, he has served as the goalkeepers coach for the USYSA Region III Olympic Development Program team since 2003.
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Mott is married to the former Jennifer Swartz. They have two sons, Dean and Will, and a daughter, Tacie.
MATT MOTT'S YEAR-BY-YEAR HEAD COACHING RECORD
2010*Ā Ā Ā 7-9-4
2011*Ā Ā Ā 8-10-1
2012*Ā Ā Ā 13-9-0 (SEC Tournament)
2013*Ā Ā Ā 16-6-2 (SEC Tournament; NCAA Second Round)
2014*Ā Ā Ā 8-6-5
2015*Ā Ā Ā 14-5-4 (SEC Tournament; NCAA Sweet 16)
2016*Ā Ā Ā 9-11-0 (SEC Tournament)
2017*Ā Ā Ā 10-7-3 (SEC Tournament; NCAA First Round)
2018*Ā Ā Ā 13-8-1 (SEC Tournament; NCAA Second Round)
2019*Ā Ā Ā 10-7-3 (SEC Tournament)
2020*Ā Ā Ā 10-6-2 (SEC Tournament; NCAA Third Round)
2021*Ā Ā Ā 12-6-3 (SEC Tournament; NCAA First Round)
2022*Ā Ā Ā 9-7-4 (SEC Tournament)
2023Ā Ā Ā 8-10-2 (Big 12 Tournament)
2024Ā Ā 10-7-1
TotalĀ Ā 157-114-35
*at Ole Miss