Brett Surrency was named head coach of Georgia State men’s soccer prior to the 2010 season after serving as an assistant on the Panthers’ staff. In his first year, he led the program to its best finish in the Colonial Athletic Association since joining the league in 2005, setting a foundation built on high expectations, hard work, and on-field excellence.
Since taking over, Surrency has guided Georgia State to nine or more wins in 10 of his 14 seasons and ranks second all-time in program history with 141 victories.He became the winningest coach in program history with 144 wins during the 2024 season.
In 2021, amid a transition to the Mid-American Conference, Surrency led the Panthers to their seventh consecutive appearance in a conference championship game—Georgia State’s first in the MAC. After a double-overtime loss to Northern Illinois in the final, the team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and captured its first-ever NCAA postseason victory with a 1-0 win at Charlotte. The historic season ended in the second round at Georgetown, but not before several Panthers earned major honors, including George Proctor and Gunther Rankenburg (All-MAC First Team) and Ross Finnie and Ethan Sassine (All-MAC Second Team). Proctor, Rankenburg, and Finnie were also named to the United Soccer Coaches All-North Region Team.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Surrency led Georgia State to a 9-2-2 record in 2020, including the program’s first-ever 5-0 start and its first win over South Carolina since 1978.
In 2019, Surrency became just the second coach in school history to reach 100 career wins after a 4-0 victory over rival Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Tournament. That season, GSU opened with a 6-0-3 mark—the longest unbeaten start in school history—and earned a top-10 national upset over No. 10 Charlotte.
Under Surrency’s leadership, Georgia State has earned two NCAA Tournament berths and won its first Sun Belt Conference Championship in 2018. That year, the Panthers swept both the regular-season and tournament titles for the first time in program history, went undefeated in conference play, and won six straight matches for the first time in over 30 years. Surrency was named the 2018 Sun Belt Coach of the Year after leading GSU to two victories over defending champion Coastal Carolina, marking the team’s first wins over the Chanticleers since 1981.
The Panthers have recorded several other signature moments during Surrency’s tenure, including a 2-1 overtime win over No. 2 Wake Forest in 2017—the highest-ranked opponent defeated in program history—and the program’s first victory over Duke in 2016. His teams have consistently ranked among the nation’s top scoring offenses, including a No. 11 ranking in 2016 and a No. 5 ranking in 2015.
Surrency has also helped players reach the next level, highlighted by former defender Michael Nwiloh, who became the first Georgia State men’s soccer player to sign a professional MLS contract when he was drafted by Chivas USA in 2014.
A Gainesville, Florida native, Surrency began his coaching career as a student assistant at Jacksonville University, his alma mater, before joining Georgia State as an assistant in 2005. As a player at Jacksonville, he was a four-time Atlantic Sun All-Academic honoree, two-time All-Conference selection, and three-year team captain. He earned the Bill Coulthart Award as team MVP and the Douglas B. Milne Award for sportsmanship in 2003.
Surrency holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sports administration, from Jacksonville and Georgia State respectively. Active in the community, he has volunteered with Special Olympics, Soccer in the Streets, After School All-Stars, and the Boys and Girls Club.
He is married to the former Crystal Cantrell, and they have two children, Grey and Rowen.
