CLEVELAND, Miss. – University of West Florida men’s soccer assistant coach Matt Watts has accepted a position as head coach of the Delta State University men’s soccer team, it was announced by DSU on Friday.  Watts spent one season at UWF and helped lead the Argonauts to a Gulf South Conference championship in 2010.  Watts’ debut match as the head of the Statesmen program will come on Aug. 20 against Belhaven University.

Watts will take over the Delta State men’s soccer program after the retirement of previous head coach Jim Allen, who started the DSU men’s and women’s soccer programs in 2003.

Watts came to West Florida from the University of Mobile, where he was a two-time all-conference, all-region and All-America selection for the NAIA school and the 2008 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year.  After his playing career at Mobile, he became an assistant coach with the Rams for one season.  The London native also played for the Norwich City Futbol Club in England for three years prior to moving to the United States.

Outside of coaching for UWF, Watts was also the head coach for the U-13 Dynamo Soccer Club in Gulf Breeze, Fla., and he also helped run various youth clinics in and around the Pensacola area.

Watts is the next UWF men’s soccer assistant coach to advance to high profile positions.  Brett Jacobs, an assistant coach at West Florida in 1994-96, now works as an assistant coach for the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer, the highest level of professional soccer in the United States.  Eduardo Oliveira, a former player and assistant coach at UWF from 2003-09, now works as an assistant coach for the Brazil women’s national team, who recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany.

The UWF men’s soccer coaching staff is considering various options to fill the void left by Watts’ departure to Cleveland. UWF’s 2011 campaign begins on Sept. 2, when they face Barry University.

DELTA STATE RELEASE