Matt Granstrand

Head Coach, Women's Soccer
E-mail: mgranstr@nmu.edu
Telephone: 906-227-2139
At NMU Since 2004-05

Matt Granstrand recently completed his eighth season as head coach of the Northern Michigan University soccer program. Granstrand has led the Wildcats to a 85-50-15 overall mark during his time in Marquette and has an overall collegiate record of 116-72-18.

NMU finished the 2011 season with a 10-6-3 overall record and an 8-5-2 mark in the GLIAC, good for second place in the GLIAC North. The 'Cats started the season with a 4-0-2 record and ranked No. 13 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America national poll. NMU qualified for the GLIAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season and Granstrand coached four players to all-GLIAC honors.

2010 was a year to remember for the NMU soccer program as Granstrand led the ‘Cats to their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the program’s history. NMU finished the season 9-6-5 after starting the season on a 10-game unbeaten streak and reaching as high as No. 19 in the national polls. The ‘Cats defeated eventual national champion Grand Valley State, 1-0 at home, ending the Lakers unbeaten streak of 65 regular season games and 43 conference matches. The win also gave head coach Matt Granstrand his 100th career collegiate win.

Granstrand’s first year at NMU he went 7-6-3 and 10-7-0 in his second campaign. The 2006 season, his third at NMU, was the most successful in NMU history as the Wildcats went 16-2-0 overall and 6-2-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) for a third-place finish. Granstrand was named the GLIAC Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year for the 2006 season. He led the Wildcats to a 12-5-2 overall record (3-3-2 GLIAC) for the 2007 season and a spot in the semifinals of the GLIAC Tournament. For the 2008 season he led the ‘Cats to an 11-9-1 overall record and a spot in the GLIAC Tournament. Granstrand led the 2009 ‘Cats to a 10-9-1 overall record and advanced to the semifinals of the GLIAC Tournament.

Granstrand was the head coach at the University of North Dakota for two seasons (2002-03) where he recorded a 24-9-3 mark, including back-to-back trips to the North Central Conference Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Central Region Tournament.

For the 2003 season, Granstrand led the Sioux to a program-best 14-3-2 record, earning Central Region’s Coach of the Year as well as the North Central Conference’s Co-Coach of the Year honors.

Prior to his stint at North Dakota, Granstrand was the assistant women’s soccer coach at the University of Oklahoma for four seasons (1999-02). He was the head men’s and women’s soccer coach at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wis. for one season in 1998.

Granstrand was the head coach for two years (1996-97) at Page High School in Franklin, Tenn. He directed the boys’ team to the Region V championship in 1997 and was named A/AA Coach of the Year. That same year he led the girls’ team to the state’s final four and was named District XI Coach of the Year.

Granstrand has served as the head coach of the United States Air Force base teams in Shreveport, La. in 1991-92 and Spokane, Wash. in 1993-94, and the Knoxville Metro Rowdies Soccer Club’s under-14, under-16 and under-17 boys and girls teams (1988- 91).

A 1995 graduate of Eastern Washington University with a bache­lor’s in psychology, Granstrand began his collegiate playing career at the University of South Carolina-Spartanburg in 1984. He then transferred to Maryville (Tenn.) College where he played for two seasons. He was a two-time captain and MVP, holds the Maryville career record for assists and set the school’s single-season mark in 1989.

The Brandon, Fla. native and his wife, Jennifer, have one son, Owen.