MANAGING EDITOR – DIDIER CADENA
ORIGINALLY PRINTED ON NOV 24, 2022
Recently, Men’s Soccer head coach Johnny Clifford received recognition and praise for his continual success in leading the Rattler soccer programs. Ever since he took the reigns of head coach, his leadership has been on constant display for the university community to see. Now it is time to reflect on Clifford’s memorable time as head coach.
Clifford originally hailed from Newmains, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. He left his home country in 2011 to start his goal of playing professional soccer at the University of Cincinnati. After his collegiate playing career ended, he began as an assistant coach at San Francisco State University before eventually heading over to Midland Odessa and finally calling St. Mary’s University his home.
In his fifth season as head coach of the soccer program, Clifford has been able to constantly steer the Rattlers in the direction of victory and success. Clifford started his career for the Rattlers in 2016, when he was the assistant coach under his predecessor Matt Barnes. In his first season as head coach, his team finished their season with a record of 10-5-3, which placed them third in the now-defunct Heartland Conference and a home game in the first round of the playoffs that season. In his second season in 2019, the soccer program saw a major improvement as they had their best season (at the time) in school history. During that season, the Rattler finished with a record of 15-3-3. They had their highest ranking at the time in school history, where they were ranked number 10 overall, according to the United Soccer Coaches poll. They were also the Lone Star Conference Champions and made it to the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Sweet 16 tournament.
Clifford was named Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year for the 2019 season.
During the COVID-19 shortened season in 2020, the Rattlers finished the year with a record of 6-3-1 and made it to the Lone Star Conference Tournament Semifinals before being eliminated. In their next season, they finished with a record of 13-7 and, once again, made it to the Lonestar Conference Tournament Semifinals.
In the most recent 2022 season, the Rattlers men’s soccer team concluded with one of their best records in program history. The Clifford-led Rattlers finished their regular season undefeated and ended their overall season with a record of 12-2-6. In conference play, they were able to finish with a record of 7-0-2. In their historic run, they shut out their opponents in 13 games. Clifford was named Lonestar Conference Coach of the Year once again, with several players of his earning individual honors in record numbers.
In his five seasons as head coach, his overall team record is 56-20-20. Throughout his tenure leading the program, one can see the continued success that his coaching has left for the program’s history. As his tenure of coaching continues, future records will break records once held by the university. It is a great thing to see how much Clifford’s team relies on him and how much they respect him. Those players who have played under him seem to continue to do great things in their personal and professional careers. The future for the men’s soccer program is bright under Coach Clifford and things can only go up from here. As of today, it seems there is no limit on what he can accomplish with the team. With Coach Clifford’s guidance, the university is given the chance to dream big and achieve even bigger accomplishments.
