| Matt Potter |
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Matt Potter has built the Cougars into one of the top programs in the Northwest while competing in the prestigious Pacific-10 Conference. He has amassed a school-record 55 victories as the Cougar field general and last season led WSU to its first NCAA postseason since 2002.
In 2008, the Cougars won 10 matches, the third time in the last four seasons that Washington State reached double-figure victories. The Cougars posted their fifth-straight winning season, a first for the program since 1994. WSU was 4-3-2 in the Pacific-10 Conference, marking the first time in school history the Cougars were .500 or better in conference play for four-straight seasons. WSU was nationally-ranked for six-consecutive weeks, including one (Oct. 20-26) where the Cougars were ranked in all four major polls for the first time in school history.
In 2007, Washington State recorded an 11-5-3 mark, its best record since the 2000 campaign when the Cougars reached the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars were nationally-ranked for seven weeks and knocked off 2007 national champion USC.
In 2006, the Cougars compiled a 9-7-4 overall mark. After blanking eight opponents in 2005, the WSU defense tied the school record with 10 shutouts in 2006. WSU also posted its second-best Pac-10 finish and best since 2002 after finishing fourth place with a 4-3-2 record.
In 2005, the Cougars were 11-7-2, their best record since the same mark in 2002. It was third time since Pac-10 play began in 1995 that Washington State registered double-digit victories.
In his six years at WSU, Potter has compiled a 55-43-20 overall record and 21-23-10 league mark. He has coached 19 all-conference honorees, 72 Pac-10 All-Academic award recipients and has mentored four student-athletes who have been a part of national team camps and/or competition.
Potter is a USSAF "A" licensed coach and is currently the Region IV Olympic Development Program (ODP) head coach for the girls '88 age group and has been on the regional ODP staff since 1998. Potter earned the Preliminary and Teaching Awards from the English Football Association.
Before coming to WSU, Potter was the head of the Scottsdale Community College women's soccer team. In just one season at Scottsdale, he led the Artichokes
to a 9-7-1 record and to the 2002 ACCAC playoffs.
Potter spent eight years with the Sereno Soccer Club in Arizona where he served as a head coach and trainer. He led his '88 girls team to a Region IV regional second
place finish, three third place finishes and four Arizona state titles. His '88 team was consistently ranked as one of the top 10 teams in the nation, and both his '88 team and '84 girls squad were ranked as top 10 teams in Region IV over a five-year period. His '84 team took state seven years in a row. Nine of Potter's players made the Region IV regional team and three made the youth national team pool.
As a central midfielder, Potter competed at the top level of soccer, playing professionally for the Watford F.C. in England. He was a member of the West London
squad that won the National British Colleges title in 1991 and played on the Great Britain Students squad, a team made of top college players. Potter also represented England at the U-19 International level. Potter also worked as a community director with the Brentford Football Club in London.
Befitting his educational background, Potter places much emphasis on academics and guides his players on how to excel in the classroom as well as on the playing field. After graduation from West London College in 1992 with an honors degree in physical education and religious, social and moral education, Potter took a position with Noga Soccer in New York and Arizona in 1993, coaching, establishing and developing a curriculum and coordinating clinics and camps.
Potter, a native of Mere, England, is married to Olga and has three stepdaughters, Marissa, Andrea, Valerie and a daughter, Cassidy.
