Michael Casper
Head Coach - Second Season
(UMBC, 2000)
Email Coach: mcasper@francis.edu
 MICHAEL CASPER enters his second season as head coach, and sixth season overall, with the Red Flash men’s soccer team. In 2007, Casper brought together an experienced team to lead them to the Northeast Conference championship match, one step away from the school’s coveted first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Casper lost six seniors off of last year’s squad, but brought in a deep and talented recruiting class of 13 to mesh with a group of returnees that are gunning to make the NEC postseason for the fourth time in five seasons.
Prior to his appointment as Saint Francis’ sixth head coach, Casper served four seasons as an assistant under mentor B.J. Craig. Together, Casper and Craig laid the foundation for the success the Red Flash have enjoyed over the past four seasons, which includes a combined record of 12-3-3 in Northeast Conference play and a pair of trips to the NEC championship match in the last two seasons.
During his five-year tenure in Loretto, Casper has overseen the development of 10 all-Northeast Conference players, six NSCAA All-Regional players, one NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, three ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honorees, and one ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American. Additionally, he has had six different players named to the NEC All-Tournament Team, 33 players named to the NEC Academic Honor Roll, and his last two teams have received the NEC Team Grade-Point-Average Award for having the highest team GPA among all men’s soccer teams in the 10-team league.
The accolades received by Saint Francis’ men’s soccer players over the past five seasons are unprecedented in the program’s history.
While the 2006 season set the benchmark for success to date at Saint Francis, the 2007 campaign was nearly as impressive. The team’s 9-9-2 overall record helped the team achieve a .500-or-better record for the fourth consecutive season, the first four in the program’s history. Bryce Luetzen, Andrew Stephens and Jeremy Tice were all named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II teams, the first three players in program history to be so named. Luetzen went on to be named to the Academic All-America Second Team, and was named the NEC’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Jarron Brooks and Bryan Maguire were named to the NSCAA All-North Atlantic Regional Second Team, while a promising young freshman, Patrick Fleming, was named to the region’s third team. Brooks, Luetzen and Maguire were each named all-conference honorees, and Brooks, Jon Guse and Daniel Moir were named to the NEC All-Tournament squad.
Prior to taking over the head coaching position, Casper spent four seasons as an assistant coach in charge of the team’s goalkeepers. He coached former Red Flash goalkeeper Bobby Pipech to a school-record 15 career shutouts and a 1.31 goals-against-average, also a school record. Current goalkeeper Brad Williams has since tied the shutout record. Pipech’s .774 career save percentage is also second in school annals.
Williams tied Pipech’s single-season school record of seven shutouts in 2006, and broke his former mentor’s school record with a 0.76 goals against average as a first-year starter that season. Williams then bested his shutout record in 2007 with eight shutouts to tie the all-time school record of 15. The third-year starter could become the first 20-shutout keeper in program history in 2008.
A four-year member of the UMBC men’s soccer team, Casper helped lead the Retrievers to a Northeast Conference championship in 1999. During Casper's four-year career at UMBC, the Retrievers posted a composite record of 54-19-11 (30-7-3 NEC).
Following his collegiate career, Casper served as head junior varsity and assistant varsity coach at Timothy Christian High School (NJ) for two seasons (2001-02). In 2000, Casper served as head coach of the Central Jersey Riptide in the Professional Development League. He holds a B License from the United States Soccer Federation and an advanced regional diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Casper received his master’s degree in Education Leadership from Saint Francis in 2005 and is a 2000 graduate of UMBC with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Matt Haney
Assistant Coach - Second Season
(York, 2003)
Email Coach: mhaney@francis.edu  MATT HANEY enters his second season as an assistant coach on Michael Casper’s staff, and will continue to work with the Red Flash goalkeepers in 2008.
Haney will assist in all aspects of the men’s soccer team this season.
Under his tutelage in 2007, senior goalkeeper Brad Williams broke the single-season school record for shutouts with eight. In addition to breaking the school’s single-season record, Williams tied the all-time record of 15 shutouts and had a goals-against-average of 1.01 in 2007, which is fourth on the program’s single-season list.
Prior to his arrival in Loretto, Haney served as the head boys’ and girls’ junior high coach in the Millville Area School District from 2004-06. He also served as the boys’ varsity coach from 2003-05, compiling a career record of 22-37-3. During the 2006 season, he served as the Benton Santos U-19 Soccer Club head coach.
Before his time in the Millville Area School District, Haney was an assistant coach at York College from 2000-03. He was the team’s primary goalkeeper’s coach, while also assisting in recruiting, the monitoring of student-athlete academic progress, off-season conditioning, development of fundraisers and assisting in the budgetary formulation. He served as York College’s interim head coach in 2001 for a three week period, and compiled a record of 5-1.
In addition to his coaching experience, Haney has worked as an assistant camp director with the Millard Ludwig Select Soccer Camp and as a counselor / assistant camp director for the York College Soccer Academy since 1997.
Haney began his collegiate career as a two-year varsity goalkeeper at Wilkes University in 1991-92, where he tied the school single-season record for shutouts (9), and helped set the team records for wins (16) and shutouts (14). He guided Wilkes to the 1992 MAC Northeast Division title. After leaving Wilkes, Haney was the varsity punter on Bloomsburg’s 1993 football team before being named the school’s most valuable soccer player on its 1994 squad. He was a three-sport standout at Benton Area High School from 1987-1991.
Haney received his bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from York College in 2003. He is currently working towards his Masters in Education at Saint Francis.
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