"Matt Lodge is very knowledgeable about the game of soccer, but he is quite verbally abusive to the girls he coaches. He has been heard numerous times talking down to or negatively about players. He would often singles players out in front of other teammates. He definitely has favorites on the team and they often get special consideration when it comes to missing practice or the way they are treated overall. Many times the "favorites" are seen making numerous mistakes on the pitch and nothing is said to them, when a non-starter makes a mistake they are immediately pulled from the game never to see the pitch again. (Check the minutes played by each player on the Murray State Soccer website). Lodge has single-handedly lost games due to this coaching mentality. He will have players that are on the bench and not use them the whole game and run his favorites into the ground usually losing the game in the last minutes. He especially doesn't care much about the mental health of his players and he never checks in on his girls that may be struggling. Sometimes it seems as if looks down on them. His compassion and empathy is non-existent. The team is very cliquey and if you are not a "starter" or one of Lodge's top 11 you are left out of everything. We were told by Lodge that Murray State Soccer has a mentoring program to help with girls transition but this was not true. If you child opts to play soccer for Murray State please check on them frequently because there is a poor culture being developed by Lodge. Oh by the way...we are still waiting for that mentoring program. "

"Although he is very knowledgeable and honest, he is one of the most abusive coaches I’ve ever had. I was frequently singled out and told I was never built to play college soccer. I struggled with injuries and was ridiculed every time I picked up a new one because he thought it was fake and made the whole team think it was fake. I was overworked so much that I picked up injuries immediately after getting over others. Doesn’t care about your body and overworks players like crazy, picks favorites, and cares about fitness a lot more than technical ability. All of the good qualities of this coach are taken away by the classic “grind til you die or get out” mentality that he projects. Mental health doesn’t exist I guess."