Kenyon College

Gambier, OH 43022

Ohio Midwest

Private Small Developing team

I'm interested in this program!

Coaches

Email coach

Kelly Bryan

Kelly Bryan enters her 19th season at Kenyon with an impressive string of accomplishments, most notably during the 2014 season in which the Ladies made a successful run through the postseason, which included a North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament title and upset victory over nationally-ranked Emory University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Over the last six seasons of play, the Ladies soccer team reached a program-record six straight NCAC Tournaments and attained 47 victories. In 2017, the Ladies went 7-0-1 in conference play, marking the first time since joining the league in 1984 that a Ladies team went undefeated. For Bryan, heading into the 2021 season, she owns a 149-135-25 Kenyon record and an overall career coaching record of 205-174-37.

In 2018, the Ladies went 8-6-3 and 4-2-2 in the NCAC, before falling in the semifinal round of the conference tourney. Bryan and the Ladies followed that up with an 8-8-1 season in 2019 and made another appearance in the NCAC Tournament.

In 2014, Kenyon won a share of the NCAC regular season title before winning the conference's tournament title for the first time in program history. During the remarkable season, the Ladies won 9-of-10 matches toward the end of the year, including upsetting Allegheny College in the NCAC Tournament final and then No. 21-ranked Emory University in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Bryan earned conference, state and region Coach of the Year honors in the process.

Bryan and her Kenyon team had one of the most successful seasons in program history during the 2006 campaign. The Ladies matched a program-best total for wins in a single season, earned the program's first-ever NCAC championship and defeated Capital University in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament. The tournament win was the Ladies' first-ever on the national stage. For her efforts, Bryan was named the NCAC Coach of the Year.

No stranger to campus, Bryan worked as an assistant coach at Kenyon during the 1998 season, serving under former head coach Scott Thielke. In 1999, she moved on to accept the head coaching position at North Carolina Wesleyan College, her alma mater. She coached at NCWC for four seasons and accumulated a 56-24-7 record, three conference championships, and three NCAA tournament appearances. She was also named the USA South Athletic Conference (formerly the Dixie Intercollegiate Conference) Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000. In her first season at Wesleyan, Bryan guided the Battling Bishops to a 17-2-4 record while winning the Dixie Conference and NCAA Southeast Regional championship. The Bishops also journeyed all the way to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.

Back in 1997, Bryan began her coaching career at the University of South Alabama, where she served as the second assistant coach for the Division I program. She spent one season there before moving on to Kenyon as an assistant in 1998-99. She also owns coaching experience with the USA Athletes International organization (Australia in 2003 and 2005, and Aruba in 2004), as a staff coach for the North Carolina ODP East team, and as coach of the Mount Vernon Soccer Association club team. She currently holds an NSCAA Advanced National Coaching Diploma.

During her playing days at NCWC, Bryan was a four-year starter and two-time team captain who made it to three NCAA tournaments. In 1994, she was part of the team that made it to the NCAA Final Four. She was named team Most Valuable Player in 1996, as well as NCWC's 'Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year' in 1996-97.

After graduating from NCWC with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Bryan earned her master's degree in exercise technology at the University of South Alabama. In 2011, she was certified as a NSCA Strength & Conditioning Specialist. A native of Dublin, Ohio, Bryan lives with her husband, Chase, and two children in nearby Heath, Ohio.

In addition to her coaching duties, Bryan serves as an Assistant Director of Athletics and had served as the Athletics Department's Senior Woman Administrator for a couple of years.

Email coach

Maddy Ireton

Maddy Ireton joined the Owls soccer staff as an assistant coach in January 2023. She came to Kenyon after serving as an assistant at Lake Erie College.

Originally from Dublin, Ohio, Ireton worked at Lake Erie as a graduate assistant and obtained her master's degree of education in coaching in 2021. That same year, she was elevated from graduate assistant to assistant coach, a position she held for the past two soccer seasons.

While Lake Erie is now an NCAA Division II institution, Ireton possesses previous Division III experience from her time at The College of Wooster, where she played soccer and graduated with a degree in psychology.

As a senior goalkeeper in the 2018 season, Ireton helped Wooster gain its first-ever North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament Championship and first bid into the NCAA Tournament since 1996. She was a team captain that season and won both the Clayton Geib Award for her key contribution athletically and demonstration of strong character and the Maria Sexton Award for her leadership and advocacy for women's athletics.

During her junior year at Wooster, she started all 18 games, made 67 saves and posted a .713 save percentage. At the end of the season, she was named to the NCAC All-Tournament team.

She holds multiple certifications from the United Soccer Coaches, including Level 1 and 2 goalkeeping diplomas.

Email coach

Chris Brown

The 2019 season is Chris Brown's 15th as head coach at Kenyon. In his time on campus he turned a struggling program into one that racked up a combined 176 victories in the last 12 seasons including 11 wins in the NCAA Tournament the last six seasons. In those last six seasons, the Lords have reached the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal round twice.

A year ago, Kenyon put forward one of the best offensive seasons of all-time on the way to an 18-1-3 record. That included an 8-0-1 North Coast Athletic Conference mark, the second straight undefeated conference campaign. Brown helped mentor David Anderson and Bret Lowry to NCAC Midfielder and Defender of the Year accolades, respectively, while also guiding the program to its fourth-straight NCAC Championship.

In 2017, the Lords posted a 16-3-3 record, went 9-0 in the NCAC, making it just the sixth time in the NCAC era that that was accomplished. Additionally, the Lords made the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season and advanced into the second round.

During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Brown's squad was among the best in the nation. In 2015, at one point, two major polls had the Lords ranked No. 1 and by the end of the season, the team had posted a 19-2-1 record and appearance in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. That was followed up in 2016 by a 20-3-0 mark, the most wins in single-season history and another trip to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.

In 2010, he guided the Lords to a 15-3-2 record and their first appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament since 1997. In 2013 and 2014 Brown directed the Lords to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament Sweet 16.

Brown holds both the USSF and UEFA 'A' licenses. He is renowned for his innovative fitness methods, his teams' ball-oriented zonal defending, and a zest for coaching teams to play with attacking flair. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the position from his past experiences coaching elite youth players, working at Division I and Division III programs, and from professional coaching employment. He has coached in the USL for Columbus FC (which reached the playoffs in 1994) and is a highly-respected former Director of Coaching for Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He has also coached at Marquette University, Ohio Northern University, and Wittenberg University.

Between the 2006 and 2007 seasons, he groomed his team well enough to show a 10-win improvement leading to one of the program’s best seasons in recent history. The 2007 season began a four-year stretch the Lords enjoyed double-digit win totals, topping out at 15 in 2010. Since stepping on campus, Brown’s teams have featured 86 all-conference selections, five NCAC Defensive Players of the Year, two NCAC Newcomers of the Year, 18 All-Region honorees and six All-Americans.

Brown was a coach in Region II ODP where he has been a Head Age Group Coach and had the opportunity to work with numerous Major League Soccer clubs such as Sporting Kansas, Houston Dynamo, Chicago Fire, Portland Timbers and New York Red Bulls as well as Premier League club, Manchester United, and Scottish League club, Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He has also served as an assistant coach for the USSF U14 national team under head coach Manfred Schellscheidt.

Brown was awarded his bachelor's degree and full colors as a player at Queen Mary, University of London, which is part of the United Kingdom’s Russell Group. He earned his master's degree from The Ohio State University.

Email coach

Darren Moore

Darren Moore enters his seventh season will the Lords men’s soccer program. In his time at Kenyon, he's helped attract serious talent including multiple NCAC Midfielder, Defender and Offensive Player of the Year award-winners and numerous All-America selections. He also brings with him a wealth of experience as a Division I and professional player as well as a successful coach of nearby schools.

In his first season at Kenyon, Moore helped the Lords to an impressive 16-5-3 mark which included a trip to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division III Tournament. He's helped the Lords during the last six seasons reach the NCAA Division III Tournament's Sweet 16 and Elite Eight as well.

No stranger to the state of Ohio, Moore most recently served as an assistant at The College of Wooster for seven seasons. In 2005, he joined the Fighting Scots women’s soccer program where he helped recruit and develop two All-Americans, five all-region selections, four academic All-Americans, one North Coast Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year, two NCAC Players of the Year, one on the defensive side and one on the offensive side. From 2008 to 2010, he helped Wooster to a conference championship, tournament runner-up finish, and a season that the team won the most non-conference matches in team history.

Prior to his time at Wooster, Moore played professionally with the Northampton Town Football Club (Northampton, England) for two years. During his collegiate career, he was a two-time all-conference player at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, which at one time ranked No. 16 in the country at the NCAA Division I level, and won two Mid-Continent Conference titles.

His coaching career also spanned to Toledo, Ohio where he led the PaceSetter Soccer Club to seven state championships and had multiple individual player success stories including one U21 national team pool player, one professional player, and numerous state and regional recognition selections. As the Director of Coaching with PaceSetter SC, Moore helped groom 40 teams to the state semifinals, 28 state finalists, and 15 state titles over a seven-year timespan. He also was an assistant coach for Heidelberg College from 1996-98.

Moore, whose father played for the world-famous Manchester United and Chelsea FC of the English Premier League, holds the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s national, advanced, and premier licenses, all of which were passed with distinction.

Moore holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Human Development from Wisconsin-Green Bay and obtained his master’s degree in education from Heidelberg. He now resides in Granville, Ohio, with his wife, Nadia, their two sons, Caden and Gavin, and their English golden retriever named Bob.