The pressure will be on in 2025 as the Men’s Soccer team faces six nationally-ranked teams in the first six games of the season, as Johnny Clifford begins his eighth year as head coach of the program.

Clifford already owns the all-time wins record at St. Mary’s with 76 victories, and he ranks 81st among active head coaches in NCAA Division II in wins.

The 2024 team won the Lone Star Conference regular season title with a record of 8-1-1. The team posted a perfect 8-0 record in October and advanced to the championship game of the Lone Star Tournament, falling to Midwestern State 2-1. The Rattlers had 10 players named to the Lone Star All-Conference team, including Defensive Player of the Year Luke Mulkey and Goalkeeper of the Year Johnny Thurbin, both of which return for their senior seasons in 2025. The duo, along with Gianluca Fiorini, Sofian Maghouz, and Lewis Nohar all earned United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors. Mulkey, Thurbin and senior Bradley Greene all earned CSC Academic All-District honors as well.

The 2023 campaign saw senior Cian Foley earn the first Academic All-American honor in school history after he was named to both the United Soccer Coaches and D2CCA All-Region teams, and the Lone Star All-Conference and All-Academic teams. Adam Aboohamidi joined Foley on the Lone Star All-Conference Second Team, while Avery Estell and Gael Gallegos were tabbed to the All-Freshman team and Dani Gimena accompanied Foley on the All-Academic team. The Rattlers qualified for the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the fourth straight time but dropped a heartbreaker in the quarterfinals.

The 2022 club posted a 12-2-6 record, won the Lone Star regular season, hosted the LSC Tournament and hosted the first four round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the NCAA Round of 16 where they lost 2-1 to Colorado State Pueblo. The team ended the season ranked No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and Clifford and his staff were named the South Central Regional Coaches of the Year.

Both Ariel Cardozo and Lewis Wilson were named Second-Team All-Americans by the USC, while six were named to the D2CCA All-Region team. Deni Cresto, Dani Gimena and Andre Schlaefli were all named to the LSC All-Academic Team, Wilson was both the Player and Defensive Player of the Year, Schlaefli was the Goalkeeper of the Year after breaking the LSC record for shutouts in a season, Cardozo was Newcomer of the Year, Calum Murdoch was Freshman of the Year and Clifford was tabbed the Coach of the Year. Cardozo, Cresto, Andrick Ferrer, Cian Foley, Schlaefli and Wilson were all honored on the First Team, while Gimena and Sebastian Rivera were on the Second Team.

Clifford was also named the Head Coach of the Laredo Heat in the NPSL for the summer, 2023 season.

The Rattlers reached the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament in both 2020 and 2021. In 2021, the team had nine honored by the league with postseason honors, including First-Team All-Conference nods by Liam Morrison and Alonso Rodriguez. Cresto was also named the male Scholar-Athlete by the LSC for St. Mary’s. The club was 13-7 overall and ranked second in the league in both saves (67) and save percentage (72.0) and led the league in shots (327).

Clifford made program history during his second year on the sideline (2019). The Rattlers reached as high as 10 in the United Soccer Coaches poll – then a program high, which was eclipsed when the 2022 team climbed as high as No. 5. Clifford, the 2019 Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year led the Rattlers to the LSC regular season title in the team’s first year in the conference. The Rattlers made their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, defeating Western Washington at Sigma Beta Chi Field, 5-0. The season ended in the Round of 16, falling to Cal State Los Angeles in penalty kicks.  St. Mary’s finished the historic season with a 15-3-3 overall record.

During 2018, Clifford held the highest winning percentage since 1997, before the program joined the NCAA. The Scotland native also produced back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 2001 and 2002.

Clifford ended his first season as head coach for the Rattlers 10-5-3, landing third place in the Heartland Conference and earning a home match in the first round of the playoffs. The historic match was the first time that St. Mary’s soccer hosted a postseason game at Sigma Beta Chi Field. He was an assistant coach with the Rattlers for two seasons for Matt Barnes before being named the head coach prior to 2018.

He is the son of former Celtic player John Clifford. He played at an early age for Celtic youth club before moving on to Livingston FC, signing a YTS professional contract. He started coaching at this time, going through the Scottish FA before completing UEFA B license (equivalent to U.S Soccer B).  

Clifford played for two years at South Georgia College before moving on to Benedictine College, where he was a two-time All-Conference selection. In 2013, the Ravens won the HAAC Conference title, earning a berth in the national tournament. 

While at Benedictine College, Johnny played and captained the Midland Sockers of the PDL. He returned in 2015 and 2016 as assistant coach, helping lead the Sockers to the best year in franchise history in 2016. That season, the Sockersqualified for their first-ever final four appearance and captured their first Southern Conference Championship after previously being one of the league’s lower-ranking programs. 

Prior to arriving at St. Mary’s, he worked as an assistant coach at San Francisco State University.

Clifford and his wife, Sarah, were married in July, 2019 and the pair are expecting their first child at the end of September.