Matt Sykes knows what it means to push players to realize their potential.
In 2016-17, the former Heritage Academy and East Central Community College goalkeeper led the Starkville Academy girls soccer team to the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Division III State championship and the Starkville Academy boys soccer team to the Division III State title game.
This past season, Sykes served as a volunteer assistant coach / goalkeeper coach for Tim Gould and the Mississippi University for Women’s first intercollegiate men’s soccer team.
Sykes said Gray Massey, his former coach at ECCC, played an instrumental role in his success as a player and helped him understand how to get the most out of players as a coach.
“He made my career what it ended up being,” said Sykes, who went on to join the William Carey men’s soccer program after his two years at ECCC. “He pushed me to my limits and made me a better player. He is definitely a player’s coach.”
Sykes’ experience with Massey is one reason he was excited by the news Monday that The W named Massey the first head coach of the women’s soccer program.
Massey comes to The W after five seasons as the head coach of the ECCC women’s soccer team. He led the team to its first appearance in the Mississippi Association of Junior and Community Colleges / National Junior College Athletic Association Region 23 semifinals, had the program’s most successful seasons, was named National Academic Team of the Year in 2014, and was tied for ninth overall in the NJCAA in team grade-point average (3.39) in 2016.
Massey, who couldn’t be reached by press time, will start at The W on Dec. 14.
Jason Trufant, the director of athletics at The W, said Massey’s energy and passion for soccer made him an ideal fit for the school, which welcomed intercollegiate athletics back to its campus earlier this year with the start of a men’s soccer program and a women’s cross country program and the return of volleyball. In the spring, The W will begin is first baseball season and welcome back softball.
Sykes can attest to Massey’s passion. He said he recalls standing next to Massey on the sideline in overtime during ECCC’s game against Holmes C.C. in Ridgeland. Sykes said one of his teammates came off the bench to score the game-winning goal. Before Sykes could take the field to congratulate the player, he said Massey pushed him out of the way and was the first to start the celebration.
“He definitely brings a big, big burst of energy,” Sykes said. “There wasn’t any time I was around him that he didn’t want to be out there doing soccer, whether it was Saturday morning or on a Sunday doing extra work. He wanted to be out there every day to make me better and to make himself better as a coach.”
Sykes laughed when he recounted the game in Ridgeland. He said he stayed on his feet despite the push and couldn’t outrun his coach to his teammate because Massey had a 10-yard head start. Sykes said he tries to match Massey’s energy when he coaches, but he said his former coach still has him beat.
“He gets pretty hyped when a goal is scored,” Sykes said.
Itawamba C.C. women’s soccer coach David Strother agrees. After coaching against Massey for several years, Strother said Massey has the knowledge about high school soccer in the state of Mississippi and the region and the energy to produce results.
“He is passionate,” Strother said. “He is not just going to start a program to start a program. He is going to be successful, and when The W’s eligibility comes (for Division III status) he is going to do everything he can to help the team compete for conference titles. I know he wouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t feel the team couldn’t be competitive.”
Strother said Massey is probably the most competitive coach he has faced. He said he already has talked to Massey about potential players. In fact, he anticipates seeing Massey this weekend at a tournament in Laurel. Strother also said Massey told him he planned to talk to coaches in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas about The W’s women’s soccer team to build a network to help him lay the foundation for his program.
Strother said Massey likes to play “attack-minded soccer” and to score goals. He said Massey’s high school and college teams always have been aggressive, so he doesn’t expect him to change.
Prior to ECCC, Massey served as head coach for the girls and boys soccer team at Florence High School, where his teams won three consecutive state titles in his eight-year tenure.
Massey led the Lady Eagles soccer team to two-straight state championships, the most recent coming in 2013. The team also won district titles from 2007-2011 and was a South State finalist in 2007. Massey received District Coach of the Year honors in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012.
As boys soccer coach, Massey led the program to a 2011 state championship and South State championships in 2007, 2008, and 2011. The team also was also named South State finalist in 2006 and 2010 and North State finalist in 2013. He is the second of four high school soccer coaches to lead both girls and boys teams to state titles.
As the boys coach, he was honored as the 2012 National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Mississippi Coach of the Year, 2012 All-Star coach, 2011 Mississippi Association of Coaches Boys Soccer Coach of the Year, and District Coach of the Year (2006-12).
Sykes said Massey’s energy will work well with the family mentality he believes his former coach will create with The W’s women’s soccer team. He said those ingredients will be essential to build a successful college program in Columbus.
“The energy and passion he is going to show is not only going to push the girls, but I think it is going to help the guys realize their passion and work their butts off and enjoy the game,” Sykes said.
In addition to his accomplishments on the field at Florence High, Massey was selected as the 2012 Teacher of the Year for his efforts teaching U.S. History, Introduction to World Geography, and Mississippi Studies.
Massey also serving as coach for the Jackson Futbol Club and Aggieland Soccer Club teams. He has worked as a goalkeeper coach at Texas A&M Women’s Soccer Camp summer camps in College Station, Texas.
A Brandon native, Massey is a former standout soccer player at Northwest Rankin High. He received a soccer scholarship to Hinds C.C., where the goalkeeper was an All-Region 23 selection in 1996. He continued his success at Mississippi College in Clinton, where in 1998 he was named second-team All-Eastern Division in the American Southwest Conference.
Massey received a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Mississippi College in May 2001 and completed a master’s degree in coaching education at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, in 2013.
He holds National Goalkeeper and National Youth licenses from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). He also holds Advanced National and National Goalkeeper diplomas from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, which is now known as United Soccer Coaches. Massey also holds a National “B” Coaching License with the USSF.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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