Brock Thompson enters his eighth season at the helm of the South Dakota State soccer program in 2024. It follows a nine-year stint as an assistant with the Jackrabbits.
Thompson has an 93-24-20 record at South Dakota State and maintains a 159-74-30 career mark in 13 total seasons as a head coach. SDSU has gone 56-4-9 at home under Thompson’s guidance, which includes a streak of 51 consecutive regular season home matches without a loss heading into the 2023 season. In the past six years of Summit League play, the Jackrabbits boast a 49-5-11 record. South Dakota State has recorded at least 10 wins per season over the past 11 years, as well as in 15 of the past 16 seasons, and holds the longest active streak of double-digit win seasons among its conference foes.
SDSU soccer has developed into one of the most consistent programs in the country under Thompson's tutelage. The Jackrabbits over the last six seasons have recorded the seventh fewest losses in Division I soccer (20), own the 11th best winning percentage (.761) and have the 14th most total wins (82).
The Jackrabbits’ most recent campaign saw the squad earn their 14th overall conference championship, along with their eighth tournament title, in the program’s 24th year of existence.
South Dakota State’s 2023 team competed to a 13-4-3 overall record despite multiple season-ending injuries to expected starters. The Jacks pulled together to claim the No. 2 seed in The Summit League standings and eventually win the 2023 Summit League Tournament championship on their home pitch over Omaha by a 1-0 score. Thompson’s Jackrabbits went on to play Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament, falling to a Husker squad that advanced to the Elite Eight.
The 2023 title captured by the Jackrabbits was their third in the previous five seasons. The team had three All-Summit League honorees in Avery Murdzek (Midfielder of the Year), Kaycee Manding (First Team) and Laney Murdzek (Second Team). Manding and Avery Murdzek were First Team All-West Region performers by the United Soccer Coaches organization which also included Reagan Anderson as a Third Team choice.
The 2022 season was one that saw SDSU make waves at the national level. The Jackrabbits were the only squad in Division I women’s soccer to end the regular season undefeated. Their .816 win percentage with a 13-1-5 record was the Jacks’ second best mark in program history. SDSU was stellar defensively, allowing the fifth best goals against average in Division I of .474. Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year two consecutive years, Jocelyn Tanner, ended the season as the NCAA’s statistical champion in goals against average (.316) and was an Academic All-American. A program record nine Jackrabbits claimed All-Summit League honors which included Maya Hansen who was named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Thompson’s squad was nationally recognized by his peers from the United Soccer Coaches organization in October of 2022. The Jackrabbits were chosen for a second consecutive year as a recipient of the Team Pinnacle Award which honors teams that have achieved a high level of fair play, education, excellence and success on the pitch. SDSU was the only Division I program to claim the honor and just one of seven college teams in the entire nation to be listed.
The Jacks returned to fall action in 2021 and continued their success, opening the season with five straight victories en route to completing a 17-4-1 record that ended with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The season was highlighted by a 9-0 record at Fishback Soccer Park, the top mark ever established by the Jackrabbits on their home pitch, outscoring opponents 29-4. SDSU finished the year in the top 30 of Division I in assists per game (2.14), corner kicks (6.64), points per game (6.86), scoring offense (2.36), shutout percentage (.500), total assists (47), total goals (52) and total points (151). Thompson's group had 12 athletes named to the Summit League Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence for the year and 21 honored on the Summit Academic Honor Roll.
Thompson successfully navigated the Jackrabbit soccer program through the COVID-19 pandemic and the delayed 2020 season, which was played in the spring of 2021. South Dakota State posted an unbeaten 12-0-5 record, earning Thompson the second Summit League Coach of the Year honor of his career. Gabby Vivier-Hannay was tabbed the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year and NSCAA All-Region while joining Eden Brooker and Hansen as All-Summit League First Team selections. Rachel Preston and Kayla Wisniewski were picked to the second team, and Manding was named to the All-Newcomer Team.
The Jackrabbits returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2019, winning the Summit League’s Tournament Championship. SDSU matched a program-record with wins, going 15-5-2 on the year with a 6-1-1 mark in league play, finishing second in the standings. Leah Manuleleua, Maggie Smither and Hansen were named Offensive, Goalkeeper and Freshman of the Year, respectively. In total, seven Jackrabbits earned all-league honors.
SDSU claimed its second-consecutive Summit League regular season title in 2018, going 12-6-1 overall with a 7-1 mark in league play. Annie Williams and Smither repeated as Defensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively, and were both named to the USC All-West Region squad. All told, eight earned all-league honors in Thompson’s second season, and three (Hannah Evans, Leah Manuleleua and Williams) were named to the league’s all-academic team.
In his first season as head coach of SDSU, the Jackrabbits claimed the league’s regular season crown with a perfect 7-0 league record and an 11-5-3 overall mark. Thompson was named the Summit League’s Coach of the Year and was responsible for coaching the league’s Defensive Player of the Year (Annie Williams), Goalkeeper of the Year (Maggie Smither) and seven All-Summit League selections, including first team picks Williams, Smither, Nicole Hatcher, Tori Poole and Manuleleua.
Thompson has been on board for all of SDSU’s Summit League titles, claiming six tournament titles (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2023) and six regular season crowns (2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2018). He was named head coach of the South Dakota State women's soccer program on Jan. 31, 2017
As an assistant with the Jacks, Thompson was part of a program that compiled a 98-56-23 record dating back to the 2008 season when the team went a then school-best 15-5-1. Thompson was responsible for working with the backline and goalkeepers on a daily basis while assisting in team training, individual player development and game day coaching. Off the pitch, he handled team operations and recruiting, along with developing a team academic program that produced 16 consecutive semesters of a plus-3.2 team GPA.
Thompson spent three seasons as the head coach at Mary (2001-03) and three at North Dakota (2005-07).
He led Mary to the NAIA Region III championship in 2002 and 2003, each time earning the Marauders a berth in the NAIA National Tournament. As well, Thompson captured the 2002 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Midwest Senior College Coach of the Year Award while at Mary.
Thompson left his alma mater in 2004 to become an assistant coach at Indiana State, where he earned a master’s degree in sport management in 2006.
At North Dakota, Thompson was named the North Central Conference Coach of the Year after leading his squad to a 12-5-1 record and a berth in the 2005 NCAA Division II Tournament. He stepped down from his coaching post after the 2007 season to become UND’s director of compliance for one year.
A native of Blair, Nebraska, Thompson was a three-time most valuable player for the Mary men's soccer team and earned honorable mention All-America accolades as a senior. He was later inducted into the Mary Hall of Fame. After graduation in 2000 and earning his bachelor of science in biology education, he became an assistant men's soccer coach and served in that position until he was named the women's soccer head coach in 2001.
Thompson also has extensive coaching experience at the club and high school level. He won three state titles as the head girls' soccer coach at Century High School in Bismarck, North Dakota, from 2000-04 and was the director of coaching for North Dakota Youth Soccer from 2002-04. He served as a regional staff coach for the Region II Olympic Development Program from 2003-05 and 2009-12.
He is active in the local soccer community serving in various roles and is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Board of Directors for the Northeast South Dakota chapter.
He also holds as a United States Soccer Federation 'B' license, United Soccer Coaches Association of America Premier Diploma and Coerver Coaching Diploma.
