Athletic Department Profiles: Meet Head Men's and Women's Soccer Coach, Corey Bryant

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-All of his life, people have naturally gravitated towards Corey Bryant. It's why he's in the position that he is. It's why, on any particular day in the office, you can hear Bryant from a mile away, chopping it up about anything. And though his arguments leave even the most insane and obsessed sports fan looking cross eyed, the 31-year old still has a knack for getting his point across, even if you think he's off his rocker.

Bryant, who enters his second season leading both the men's and women's soccer programs at Garden City Community College, grew up on a dairy farm in Lebanon, MO, about three hours south of Kansas City. In elementary school, he played football, baseball, soccer and was part of the rodeo team (yes Bryant was better at tying goats than slinging the pigskin). Interestingly enough, he quit soccer in middle school to concentrate on football, basketball and baseball.

"It definitely surprised some people," Bryant admitted.

In fact, it wasn't until a few years later in high school that Bryant returned to the pitch, and it was thanks to his friend, Matt Gow, who now runs the program at Ottawa University in Arizona, and his dad, Mike, the prep soccer coach at the time, who eventually persuaded him to come back.

"I owe both of them everything," Bryant said. "Without the two of them constantly harping on me to come back and play, my life wouldn't be what it is now."

Returning to soccer earned Bryant a scholarship to Missouri Southern State in Joplin, where he played for four years before the school decided to drop the program. Once he graduated, he began his coaching career at Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond, VA.

"I always wanted to coach," Bryant explained. "I just wasn't sure what I wanted to coach."

On that staff was former Team USA star Tiffany Roberts, who played in the 1996 Olympics and the 1999 World Cup, her husband, Tim Sahaydak, who had playing stints in the MLS, and Siri Mullinix, who played in the 2000 Olympics and 2003 World Cup.

"It was really a no brainer for me to go there if I wanted to learn and get better as a coach," Bryant said. "And I learned a ton."

After VCU, Bryant got indoctrinated with the Jayhawk Conference, spending three years as a women's assistant at Coffeyville. During his time there, the Red Ravens went from ravished program to nationally ranked contender, breaking a slew of school records along the way. That landed him a job at Hutchinson under one of the top Junior College coaches in the country, Sammy Lane, where the Blue Dragons won a pair of conference titles.

"I owe a lot to Sammy," Bryant said. "He took me under his wing and taught me a lot about coaching and about life. He became family to me, and I could never thank him enough for the time that I got to spend with him in Hutch."

While he was an apprentice under Lane, Bryant was the Director of Coaching for Club Azzurri, a local youth soccer club in Hutchinson. At the same time, he started the high school program at Nickerson, the smallest public school in the state to have a girls' team. He led them to winning records in both of his seasons there while simultaneously coaching semi-pro ball with FC Wichita. That eventually led him to Garden City, where he was named head coach of the women's program on April 19, 2019. Then, after Scott Westbrook resigned in Aug., Bryant was named the full-time men's coach.  

Bryant has five brothers: Logan, 33, Garrett, 29, Justin, 27, Kelsey, 23, and Trevor, 21. His mom, Terri, is a Managing Consultant for BKD CPA's in Springfield, MO and is also heavily involved in a non-profit foundation that deals with domestic violence. His dad, Mike, is the District Sales Manager for Frito-Lay and lives in Camdenton, MO.