Matt Kennedy came to Friends University in January of 2009. Responsible for directing the teams' sprinters and jumpers, Kennedy, the 2010 women's indoor and outdoor coach of the year, guided a trio of men long jumpers to two automatic national qualifying marks and a 1-2-3 sweep at the 2009 KCAC Conference Championship. All three of these horizontal jumpers set personal records and the event champion Nathan Nunhof set a KCAC meet record.
In 2010 the Friends University captured the first women's track & field conference championship in school history. Sara Wiebe led a trio of high jumpers that finished 1-3-4, giving Friends the last three high jump conference champions.
Before his transition to Friends University, Coach Kennedy served as the men's and women's assistant track and field coach at Oklahoma Baptist University (Shawnee, OK) where he was part of two National Championships teams in 2007, the women's indoor title and men's outdoor title. Responsible for leading OBU's jumpers, Coach Kennedy coached athletes to numerous National Championship appearances and All-American certificates.
Coach Kennedy moved to OBU in 2006 from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he assisted with the women's cross country team during the inaugural season in 2005.
Prior to MSU, Coach Kennedy served for three seasons as the head track and field coach and for two years as the Athletic Director at Wichita Christian High School in Wichita Falls, Texas. Arguably the most successful teams in the school's history, Coach Kennedy's squads finished among the top eight at the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools State Track and Field Championships each of his three seasons. During this time, Coach Kennedy's athletes brought home 13 individual state titles along with numerous other top-five awards.
From 2003 to 2007 Coach Kennedy was responsible for the resurrection of the Wichita Falls Track Club. During this five year period, the club's enrollment increased from 28 to a record setting 92, and 105 the following year. In addition, the number of athletes qualifying for the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation Track and Field State Championships more than doubled. This includes a historic 32 state qualifiers in 2007 and the club's first TAAF State Athlete of the Year, Taylor Stolt, who was a State Champion in the 100M, triple jump and long jump.
Kennedy holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Midwestern State University and is currently pursuing a Master of Education degree from East Central University.
