Rodriguez Jr. named BU men’s soccer coach
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/07/2025 (307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
One of the best players in Brandon University men’s soccer history is back to lead the team.
Diego Rodriguez Jr. was named head coach of the Bobcats program he helped build into one of the powerhouses of the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference on Wednesday.
Rodriguez Jr. graduated from BU in 2022, assistant coached with the Bobcats the following season, and then spent two years completing his master’s degree in physiotherapy at the University of Manitoba from 2023 to 2025.
Former Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference MVP Diego Rodriguez, centre, was named head coach of the Brandon University men’s soccer team on Wednesday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
“It feels really good. It feels like I’m coming back home. To be able to help the program that gave so much to me feels really special,” Rodriguez Jr. said.
“It made sense for me to want to go back to compete and represent BU again, just from the other side of the touchline.”
When Rodriguez Jr. joined the program in 2017 after a standout high school career at Crocus Plains, it had yet to reach the league final.
The five-foot-11 central midfielder helped BU to the No. 1 seed in his second year before a 1-0 upset loss to the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers in the outdoor soccer final in 2018.
A few months later, he led the Bobcats to their first league title on the futsal court.
However, he tore his right ACL in April 2019 and missed the following outdoor season, as Brandon finally hoisted the trophy.
Rodriguez Jr. wasn’t sure he’d be able to return following surgery nearly a year later, but came back for his long-awaited third year in 2021 and was the league’s unanimous MVP selection as the Bobcats defended their title and became the first MCAC representative at Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association nationals.
While he wasn’t listed on head coach Glen McNabb’s staff that year, he was often the one orchestrating practices and keeping the team organized from the middle of the pitch.
“Part of my position where I used to play was a lot of guiding the team … Glen asked for help, which I was happy to share with him because he was a good person and I was always supporting,” Rodriguez Jr. said.
“I was happy to give a player’s point of view. I was also able to assist and coach with him the year I graduated, so I do have some experience in that sense, which I’m happy to use now as the head coach.”
Head coaching will still be new to the Colombian, who moved to Brandon in 2011 at age 10, but he has a great resource in his father, BU women’s head coach Diego Rodriguez Sr.
The younger Diego has paid close attention to his dad’s coaching style.
“Some of the big things I learned are to always be willing to learn — no matter how much experience (you have) or how good you think you are, there’s always something to learn from every team or every player — be patient, and be a good person,” Rodriguez Jr. said.
Diego Rodriguez led BU to its first-ever MCAC futsal title in 2019. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
“That goes a long way and really unites the team, which makes for better performance.”
While Rodriguez Jr. was in Winnipeg, the Bobcats won one more league title in 2023, then earned the MCAC’s first-ever win at nationals in penalty kicks to finish seventh out of eight.
But in 2024, the team led by Segun Edward lost 1-0 to St. Boniface in the title game, then nearly missed the futsal playoffs and lost 7-6 to Les Rouges in the semifinals.
So Rodriguez Jr. has his work cut out for him, given the lofty expectations of the league’s biggest school, while also entering a situation that requires mindfulness off the pitch.
It’ll be the second time a coach in their 20s who knows some of the Bobcats as friends takes over the program. The last one, Jesse Roziere, switched from the men’s program to the women’s in 2020, was placed on leave in 2021 and ultimately was removed from the role when a third-party investigation revealed multiple instances of sexual misconduct involving BU women’s soccer players.
“I’m happy to be able to coach some of my friends but also be able to coach alongside my dad and take the whole BU name to the next level,” Rodriguez Jr. said. “Everyone has to be professional, responsible with their duties to be able to do my job.
“Outside the field, it’s different, but boundaries will have to be set to make sure everything goes smoothly. But all the guys I know, they’re all really good players, really good people, so I don’t anticipate to have any issues in that sense.”
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
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