Coach Mike Montross is no longer at American University as of February 2024.

Mike Montross, who was hired as an assistant coach for American University men's soccer in 2019, was promoted to Associate Head Coach in November, 2023, following his fifth season with the Eagles.

American’s attacking group, coached by Montross in training, led the Patriot League in 2023 in goals per game. Montross helped coach seven All-Patriot League selections in 2023, the most for the program in eight years.

In the 2022 season, Montross helped AU to its third straight appearance in the Patriot League Championship. The Eagles made their second straight appearance in the fall 2021 season after finishing with a 6-2-1 mark in conference play. Montross coached four All-Patriot League selections in 2021, including two First Team honorees in David Coly and Nicolas Blassou. Coly and Blassou were also named All-Atlantic Region by United Soccer Coaches, while Jack Green earned a spot on the Academic All-Patriot League squad.

Montross played an integral part in AU winning its first Patriot League title since 2004 in the spring 2021 season. American had been predicted to finish ninth in the Patriot League by the preseason coaches’ poll. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, AU advanced past Jacksonville in penalty kicks (5-4) after playing to a 3-3 draw. The next round against No. 1 Clemson saw the Eagles hold a 1-0 lead for almost 50 minutes before eventually falling to the Tigers, 2-1.

After winning the spring 2021 Patriot League title, AU received votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll for the first time since Nov. 8, 2016. In the final spring 2021 United Soccer Coaches Poll, AU was ranked No. 28 nationally. The Eagles also entered the NCAA Tournament ranked first in the NCAA’s RPI metric.

He coached two All-Patriot League players (David Coly and Nicolas Blassou) and helped bring in a 13-person recruiting class for the spring 2021 season that injected new energy into the program. The 2020 recruiting class was ranked in the Top-50 nationally by Top Drawer Soccer.

In his first season at American, Montross oversaw a rebuilding team that picked up three Patriot League wins and was competitive in every other league contest. He coached one Academic All-Patriot League player (Tim Neumann) and a league-best 20 members of the PL Academic Honor Roll.

Montross returned back to The District after four years at Villanova and two years at Lehigh. He previously worked with head coach Zach Samol for two seasons as a volunteer assistant at Georgetown.

At Villanova, Montross was promoted from an assistant coach to associate head coach during his four seasons. He helped with all aspects of the program including recruiting, practice planning, video analysis, player development and academic success. During the 2016 season, the Wildcats appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and finished the season with their highest RPI. On the recruiting trails, Montross was part of the first two (2016, 2017) top-20 ranked classes in program history.

Additionally, he coached and helped develop multiple award winners on and off the field. This included six players named to the All-Big East teams, three named to the All-Big East Freshman team, and three players named to the NSCAA/United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team as well as multiple All-Big East academic award recipients.

No stranger to the Patriot League, Montross spent two seasons at Lehigh (2013-14) where he helped the Mountain Hawks make the second highest RPI jump of any Division I program (from No. 187 to No. 78) and recorded double-digit victories for the first time since 2006. He coached and recruited multiple All-League players and academic award recipients. In 2014, five players were named to the Patriot League All-Conference teams, one player to the Academic All-Patriot League team, and one player to the NSCAA All-Region Team.  In both of his years at Lehigh, the team earned the NSCAA team academic award.

While at Georgetown, the Hoyas posted the most single season wins (19) in program history and earned a Big East Blue Division championship while advancing to the Finals of the NCAA College Cup. That year, Steve Neumann was a MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist and earned College Cup Most Outstanding Offensive Player, while Brandon Allen was named the Big East Rookie of the Year and the national rookie of the year by a number of outlets. That unit also featured two All-Americans as well as six All-Big East honorees. Academically, Keon Parsa was honored with the Elite 89 Award, given to the student-athlete at the College Cup with the highest GPA.

Throughout his coaching career, Montross has worked with and prepared 18 student-athletes that signed professional contracts or were drafted by the MLS.

Montross is a 2011 graduate of Dickinson College, where he earned four varsity letters and captained the team as a senior. He helped lead his team to its first two conference and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2007 and 2008 and was also on the Dean's List. The native of Bethesda, Md., received a degree in international business and management and minored in Spanish. He speaks Spanish fluently.

Montross received his master's degree in education from Villanova and married Vivianne Alves de Sa in July 2018.

Players To Sign Professional Contracts or Drafted by the MLS

Villanova: Chris Hill, Chris Bared, Zach Zandi

Georgetown: Steve Neumann (2014 #4 pick), Joey Dillon, Brandon Allen, Tyler Rudy, Andy Riemer, Tommy Muller, Jimmy Nealis, Keegan Rosenberry (2016 #3 pick), Ian Christianson, Tomas Gomez, Cole Seiler, Josh Turnley, Austin Martz

Lehigh: Ciaran Nugent, Jamie Luchini