SAN MARCOS, Calif. – With Cal State San Marcos Athletics returning to competition this fall, CSUSM Director of Athletics Jennifer Milo announced the department’s first wave of assistant coach hires for the 2021-22 academic year on Tuesday afternoon.
“I am so pleased to be able to officially announce the new members of our CSUSM Department of Athletics team,” Milo said. “The search process for each position was extremely competitive, and I am excited by the outcome. Our student-athletes will return to CSUSM in August and will compete in intercollegiate athletics with the high-quality coaching resources they deserve. These hires are another step in the right direction toward the return of CSUSM Athletics.”
Matthew Aldama rejoins the department as the Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach. Aldama was previously the volunteer assistant coach for the program during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. A 2018 graduate of the University of Saint Katherine, Aldama has also been the Assistant Director of Coaching for the Vista Storm Soccer Club since 2017. He has also obtained his USSF “D” and “E” Licenses.
Fernando Brown will transition to his new role as the department’s Sports Performance Coach after serving as the Interim Sports Performance Coach since the summer of 2020 and Assistant Director of Athletics for Operations since 2018. He previously served as the Athletics Operations Coordinator/Equipment Manager beginning in 2015. During the 2014-15 season, Brown served as the Director of Operations for the CSUSM men’s basketball team. Before employment at CSUSM, he was with the San Diego Chargers from 2010 to 2017 as a public media relations intern and as a member of the game day operations staff. From 2011 to 2013, Brown was an Academic & Life Skills Coordinator at UC Irvine. From 2009 to 2011, he was part of the football operations staff at San Diego State. Brown is a 2006 graduate of CSUSM and earned his master’s from San Diego State in 2011. Brown has valid accreditations as a Certified Personal Trainer from both the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
Anthony Heredia rejoins the department as an Assistant Cross Country/Track & Field Coach. Heredia was previously the Volunteer Assistant Coach for the cross country and track & field programs from 2018 to 2020. He originally came to CSUSM after a five-year stint at La Jolla Country Day from 2013 to 2018. Heredia is a 2013 graduate of UC San Diego, and he earned his master’s degree from Point Loma University in 2018.
Haley Price joins the department as the Assistant Volleyball Coach. Price was previously Head Coach and Assistant Athletic Director in the NJCAA at Louisburg College beginning in 2020. Before becoming a collegiate coach, Price was the youngest head coach in the state of Tennessee at Dobyns-Bennett High School in 2019. Before becoming a coach, she was a student-athlete at Virginia Tech University as a libero/defensive specialist and graduated in 2018. She later earned her master’s degree from Liberty University in 2021.
Jillian Shields returns as the Assistant Women’s Soccer Coach. She was previously the team’s Assistant Coach from 2014 to 2020. She joined CSUSM as the Volunteer Assistant Goalkeeper Coach in 2014 after an extensive club and collegiate playing career. Shields graduated from Vanguard University of South California in 2009 and later earned another bachelor’s degree from Utah State University in 2014. As a student-athlete at Vanguard, Shields was a two-time NSCAA All-American as well as an All-GSAC and All-Region recipient.
Tracy Thompson returns as an Assistant Cross Country/Track & Field Coach. Thompson was previously an assistant coach at CSUSM from 2015 to 2020. During his prior stint, Thompson helped CSUSM student-athletes earn a multitude of athletic and academic accomplishments including a USTFCCCA All-Region selection, one CoSIDA Academic All-American, two CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients, three CCAA All-Conference selections, four school records and 21 CCAA Spring Academic Honor Roll recipients. Before his work at CSUSM, Thompson coached for six seasons at University City High School.
Monica Todd joins the department as an Assistant Cross Country/Track & Field Coach. Todd comes to CSUSM from Biola University where she was the assistant jumps coach and assisted in the development of hurdlers and heptathletes. Before joining Biola, she was the volunteer assistant hurdles coach at San Francisco State University and was responsible for the development of hurdlers, sprinters and jumpers. Before entering the world of collegiate coaching, Todd was the long jump and triple jump coach at Trabuco Hills High School from 2015 to 2018. Todd is a 2015 graduate of Howard University and was an accomplished student-athlete for the Bison as an NCAA All-American, an NCAA East Regional qualifier and a MEAC conference champion in the 400-meter hurdles.
The department will announce its second batch of assistant coach hires on Wednesday.
